The Red Cross Club, introduced and managed by sophomore Navya Verma, held its first interest meeting on Thursday, Feb. 20. Created to support the Red Cross, meetings will be held every Wednesday during Grizzly period in Mr. William’s class, room 219, starting on March 5. “Using an organization like Red Cross to support our club makes it an inclusive space where people can use different skills like working in a team,” Krisha Shelat, the club’s vice president said.

The Red Cross Club is a club made to support the National American Red Cross. In this club, students receive the opportunity to serve their community by assisting in projects that can help save lives. All Red Cross clubs must hold at least three mission service projects each year. These events can include blood drives, CPR training, care packages, and more. “Just stuff that helps us be more aware about Red Cross or directly helps the Red Cross. Like the LA fires, we can make care packages for them,” Verma said, “Next year, we’re probably going to have a blood drive and whatever we do, we give it to them.”

Although unplanned at first, Verma became inspired to start her own club towards the beginning of the second semester. A friend from a different school introduced the Red Cross Club to her, leading her through how it worked and the events they did, describing it as a fun experience. “She was telling me about how great it was, and I was like, ‘Oh, that’s really cool, maybe I should do that too.’ And then I started it,” Verma said.

The process of starting a club involved looking into the Red Cross website, which gave directions on how to start one’s own club. An email had to be sent to the volunteer lead at the Red Cross in order to learn about club requirements and get connected. “You go on their website, you start the club, you make a constitution, you sign the constitution, you get your adviser to sign it, and then you have to make a club on their website, get it approved,” Verma said, “And then for the school, I had to make a constitution with the ASB.”

Club meetings will involve preparation for the three required projects. With the end of the year approaching, Verma plans on doing smaller projects such as care packages and CPR training. Verma explains her plan of action so that the club is able to complete the three mission service projects before the year ends. “I’m going to split us into three groups and each group will be doing something different and hopefully we’ll get the three events in four months,” Verma said.

With the club just starting, Verma hopes that more people will be interested in joining and that the club will be able to continue throughout the years. “I decided to join the Red Cross to give back to my community and help other people,” Shelat said.