Donate your car! Donate your auto! Donate your vehicle! If you can’t give your blood or your money, the least you could do is vehicle donation or some sort of suitable mode of transport that would earn a decent cent at auction. Actually more than a decent cent is what’s normally recovered following the auction when you donate your car to charity.

Have you considered the fine detail of what horrors and distress ARC volunteers are exposed to during the course of their volunteer work? No? I don’t blame you, a lot of the time it probably is pretty gruesome. But I’m not going to let you off that easy; you have the imagination and you’ve probably viewed the harrowing scenes on your TV screen when there is breaking news and a special bulleting about a local disaster that has taken place in your community – or somebody else’s…we’re all neighbors now when you watch the box. Those are real people being affected by the drama unfolding in front of you as you munch away on a TV dinner feeling sorry for the victims in the terrible tragedy that had befallen them. Hey! Isn’t it lucky that stuff like that doesn’t happen to you?

Well – news flash –it could happen to you and the wonderful men and women and junior boys and girls of the American Red Cross will quite probably be among the first to help you out of trouble. Even though they may never have witnessed a disaster first hand before, they have heard tales from other members and been prepared for what to expect when they do face it themselves for the first time. What about the second or third or fourth timers; don’t they have nightmares when smells of smoke from blacktopping roads, sounds of wrecking balls smashing buildings and shrieks or cries from children who have fallen and hurt themselves assault their senses and bring back memories of some horrible scene at an event they attended? I’m sure they do but these fantastic individuals carry on regardless. If you can’t support them at least appreciate them.

Carole recently moved to the States, Fairfax actually – very impressed; says it’s beautiful, even more picturesque than the postcards she’d seen or what she’d imagined from reading about it. Back in the UK Carole was involved with the Saint John’s Ambulance Brigade, a volunteer first-aid organization that is responsible for training first-aiders and issuing certification to those attending courses and it provides the first-aid service at concerts and sporting events throughout the UK.

Carole doesn’t know what the US equivalent is, though she’s seen some stuff about the American Red Cross and was wondering what the situation is. All she knows is that it’s a voluntary organization and has no problem with that but tax laws and everything are so different she needs help. If she became involved and had to attend an event, obviously immediate response is required…can she take time off work to do this without penalty? If she can, how often can she do this? Carole also heard about auto donation, that sounded funny to her as a Londoner, vehicle donation or car donation are more comfortable on her British ears. But anyway, if she were to volunteer as a driver and available to help with collection of auto donations, sorry…car donations, would that have to be in spare time or could that be scheduled into work?

Carole’s always felt very strongly about serving the community in which she lives and she’d like to have the facts before she applies for a job or joins up with the local Chapter. She wouldn’t like to make a fool of herself or let either side down because she couldn’t juggle them both. Organizations like the American Red Cross need to know what manpower they have and when they can call upon it so if anyone out there can answer Carole’s questions and save her looking like a gigantic fool, it would be much appreciated by this newcomer to your country. She’d like to help out at any sort of event and thinks her first-aid experience and her driving (she has a HGV license) could both be of benefit to the organization.