Another club has been added to the list at Northern Vermont University- Johnson, one that will provide members with the opportunity to participate in Red Cross events and make a positive impact in the surrounding community.

“My hope is that we can look at the mission of the Red Cross, which is to end human suffering, which they do through five lines of service, and take their goals and turn that into action on campus,” says Assistant Director of Upward Bound Erica Fuller, the club’s advisor. “I really want the club to be student led so right now I’m the advisor… We’re working on recruiting students, but I would love to find some really dedicated students on campus who want to step up and be the club president, treasurer, and secretary.”

On top of doing blood drives, what the Red Cross is most typically know for, the club will participate in a variety of outreach programs. This coming April, Fuller would like the club to participate in the Sound the Alarm event in Barre, Vermont. This initiative involves sponsoring the installation of fire alarms in houses throughout the city, especially for families who cannot afford them.
“[The] Red Cross staff and volunteers are working to install fire alarms to help families prepare and kind of a preventative step to avoid home fires,” says Fuller. “So families who can’t afford [or] don’t care to buy home smoke alarms and CO2 detectors, they can get them installed for free by the American Red Cross.”

Beyond outreach programs, the Red Cross club also offers a variety of services for students on campus. For all Red Cross club members, there are waivers available for those who wish to take CPR, First Aid and AED training for free.

Additionally, the club will be offering abbreviated CPR courses for all community members.

“They’re abbreviated CPR classes held throughout any community where community members, students, parents, anybody of any age, can just come and learn some basic CPR skills to help save somebody if they were ever put in that situation where somebody was unconscious, not breathing,” says Fuller. “It’s not a true certification, but …the more people who are educated about it, the more lives can be saved.”

Fuller encourages students with an interest to reach out and ask questions, despite, perhaps, a prior commitment.

“Send an email, reach out and give me a call, just let me know you’re interested. We can work with moving around meeting times to kind of work for the whole group and not just those who are currently in the group,” she says. “I’d be willing to meet with students outside of meetings. If students can’t make it to the meetings, they can still be open to participating in some of the events we do on campus, whether we’re hosting the event, they want to participate in that event or they want to help out and volunteer, we’d be open to that as well.”

Erica Fuller can be contacted through her NVU email, [email protected] as well as in her office in Upward Bound.