There are many values that people believe in, but according to the Red Cross, a very important value involves helping others to the best of one’s ability.

The Red Cross organization serves many functions, including giving aid to soldiers and victims of war, leading community education and outreach, providing disaster relief and conducting blood collection. 

During disaster, their main goal is to provide shelter, food, health and mental health services in order to help families and communities recover. 

To parallel the organization’s benevolent efforts, a new club called the Red Cross Club has been formed at WHHS, led by president Justin Chan, ‘22. Their goal involves fulfilling the overall mission of the Red Cross. 

There are currently eight members, and meetings are held every other Friday. Chan feels that the Red Cross is “a big organization that is really into helping others,” which inspired him to start the new club.

One of the activities conducted by the Red Cross Club includes sending cards to the Veteran Association Medical Center, which provides healthcare services to veterans. On the week of Dec. 2, cards were collected from the WHHS community and were delivered there by the club. 

“[The veterans] had a lot of fun meeting us, and we had a lot of fun talking with them and talking about their experiences,” Chan said. 

The Red Cross Club is always looking for new members to join them in activities such as these. For recruiting, Chan said that they tried via announcements and posters, but he overall believes that “through the Chatterbox or other ways of communication, more people will be interested in the activities [we] do.” 

Chan also feels that the club would grow over the years due to “the school being into helping people.” He noticed this due to students at WHHS donating cards for the recent Red Cross activity in earnest, with the club receiving fifty cards, as well as people realizing they should do something about the many natural disasters.  

During the club meetings, Chan says that “there’s a lot of activities you can be doing and brainstorming, which can really contribute to the club.” He also plans for there to be activities that are essential to help save lives, such as CPR training and lifeguarding classes. 

The club can also be looked upon as a key opportunity to gain service hours inside WHHS. In addition to his interest in community service, Red Cross Club member Ben Liu, ‘22, says that service and volunteer hours would be something that “a lot of colleges are going to be looking at,” and he believes that it could be a factor that draws people into the club. 

Promoting goodwill is a key element in life, and involvement in clubs such as this can end up being rewarding. “Doing this activity where I give cards to veterans is really heartwarming to me because my family isn’t really a part of the military, but I’m still helping people in my community,” Chan said of his experience at the Veteran Association Medical Center. 

The newly-established Red Cross Club involves helping others hands-on, offers opportunities that could equip one to save another’s life and helps WHHS students earn volunteer hours.