Presidential Service Project Q&A with
AjPHA President, Sammie Jo Stone

What is name of the 2007-2008 Presidential Service Project?
Be A Lifesaver.

How did you come up with the idea for
your Presidential Service Project?
I wanted to create a service towards helping people in natural disasters, and the American Red Cross just offered so many opportunities in that area that I thought it would fit the purpose of a “service project.”

Why do you hope to accomplish with
the Presidential Service Project?
Like many presidents before me, all I want is for people to get involved and to say that they made a difference and played a part in helping someone and that they learned something along the way.

What is the overall structure of this year’s project?
Members can get involved by helping others in natural disasters—that is the purpose. You can help by donating just about anything to your local Red Cross—clothes, food, blankets, or first aid kits (that’s a big one). You can also become trained in CPR and First Aid or holding a blood drive. Keep track of your donations and activities and at the end of the year the From the Heart Award will go to the club who put in the most time.

Resources
Be A Lifesaver is broad project that can incorporate many different areas of participation. The following links may be helpful in getting involved in the project. If you know of another link that might be helpful to AjPHA members, please contact the Director of Youth Activities!

Find Your Local Red Cross Chapter
Finding your local chapter is the first step to becoming involved with Be A Lifesaver. First Aid, CPR and Automated External Defibrillator (AED) courses are offered through local chapters.

Pets and Disaster: Be Prepared
Joint information provided by the Red Cross and the Humane Society of the United States. This website provides links for pet first aid, as well as preparedness for farm animals.

Give Life—Giving Blood with the Red Cross
This American Red Cross website focuses specifically on blood donation. Here you can sign up for blood drives in your area or learn about sponsoring your own blood drive. AjPHA members might consider sponsoring a blood drive in conjunction with their Regional Club meetings, awards banquets, or horse shows.

Donating Goods to the Red Cross
This website gives good details on how goods should be donated to the Red Cross. To summarize, you should contact your local chapter of the Red Cross to determine what types of physical goods they might accept BEFORE hosting a drive.

Volunteer Match
Volunteer Match allows you to search by zip code for volunteer positions with your local chapter of the Red Cross. Positions are available for both individual teens and groups.

Coins That Count Donation Program
By taking your spare change to the grocery store, you can help the Red Cross. At your local Coinstar machine select the “donate” option for the Red Cross, pour in your change, and the machine will print a donation receipt for your club.