In 2025, local volunteers became a lifeline for hundreds of neighbors reeling from disasters across our community.

In a powerful display of service, volunteers with our Greater Indianapolis Chapter responded alongside local partners to more than 250 disasters, from devastating tornadoes to home fires. Our volunteers provided safe refuge, hot meals, emotional support and health services to families affected. Their compassion made a profound difference for those facing their darkest moments.

This year, people also came together through our mission to support hospital patients who rely on donated blood for survival. Generous volunteer blood donors rolled up their sleeves to help make a difference, allowing us to collect more than 9,500 units of lifesaving blood in our Greater Indianapolis Chapter.

JOIN US – VOLUNTEER Our Blood Transportation Specialist Volunteers provide a vital link between blood donors and patients who need blood products. These volunteers transport blood from our blood collection sites to our lab for testing and processing and deliver it to hospitals in the area using a Red Cross owned vehicle. The need for blood is constant, and just like disasters, medical emergencies don’t take holidays.

You can help ensure lifesaving blood is available to patients in need. Visit redcross.org/volunteer to become a blood transportation specialist volunteer. You must be at least 18, have a valid driver’s license and be able to lift up to 50 pounds. Training is provided.

This Giving Tuesday and throughout the holiday season, visit redcross.org to give back through volunteering.

Our lifesaving mission is also made possible by generous financial donations, which ensure volunteers have the resources they need to bring light to a family’s darkest days — right when it’s needed most.

To read stories of how people in our community and across the region made a difference in 2025, visit redcross.org/inyearinreview.

About GivingTuesday:

GivingTuesday is an annual event dedicated to boosting radical generosity, held on the Tuesday after Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Created in 2012 at New York’s 92nd Street Y, the idea behind GivingTuesday was to set aside a single day to give back. Over 13 years, this idea has grown into a global movement that inspires millions of people to donate, volunteer and spread awareness. For many nonprofits, funds raised on GivingTuesday serve as an important kickoff for year-end charitable campaigns.

About the American Red Cross Indiana Region:
The American Red Cross of Indiana Region serves 6.9 million people in 104 counties in Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky and Ohio through its chapters: Northeast, Northwest, Southeast, Southwest, and Greater Indianapolis (Regional Headquarters). The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies about 40 percent of the nation's blood; teaches skills that save lives; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a not-for-profit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. For more information, please visit us at Redcross.org/Indiana or follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @indianaredcross.