With the pandemic hitting neighborhood communities and especially schools, people’s passions took a hit and were not only delayed but also suppressed. Clubs had trouble getting meetings with everyone because of the adjusted schedule and there weren’t many in-person activities to do without risking the well-being of those people and their families. 

Even after coming back on campus last year, there was a weird air and adjustment with these school clubs and how they would continue through the year, but this wasn’t a problem for Danica Huynh and wouldn’t prevent her from starting something she was passionate about.

In the Fall of last year, the Red Cross Club was created by Danica and a few other students who were passionate about helping and supporting the health and physical security of people who might be struggling. 

Weeks before meetings had started, Huynh and her fellow board members, Angela Lee and Tiara Ryan set out to make, print, and post flyers all over campus to inform people, resulting in an amazing turnout at the very first meeting. Their turnout would only grow as weeks would pass and they continued doing impressive work, including holding drives for hygienic products for homeless and low-income communities and even taking and organizing blood donations, which you might have seen or heard about a month ago. 

Huynh’s club has made strides in rebuilding that passion while also instilling a bond between everyone, creating a sense of community within students, through offering volunteer opportunities with the club, whether that be helping in organizing blood drives or assisting in building hygiene care packages to give to local shelters/projects.

“I wanted to create the club because I wanted to add to our school community and be able to help those in need, as an extension of the Red Cross,” says Huynh.

So far Huynh and her board have been successful at building that community she hoped for, with an amazing turnout of volunteers and donors at her last blood drive a month ago. The club meets every Thursday, in room 801, with a nearly full-packed room, every meeting. Students are devoting their time but also getting relationships out of the club.

Huynh says, “Students are able to bond over being able to support our local communities and individuals in need.”