Today is National Blood Drive Day. Did you know? Right now there is a critical blood shortage in the Spokane region. Every two seconds, someone in the U.S. needs blood. This could be a child in the ICU or a mother or father facing a health crisis.
Vitalant, a local GSI member partner and the nation’s largest nonprofit organization is focused on providing lifesaving blood services and works each day to make sure blood is available when and wherever it is needed.
Audrey Yaeger, account manager for Vitalant, is passionate about working for Vitalent and serving her community. We recently chatted with Audrey to learn more about her career development story.
“I started helping organize blood drives at my high school when I was 13 yrs old. I helped with recruiting my freshman and sophomore years before I moved to a different high school. When I transferred high schools, I missed being able to help our community, so I began volunteering at the main INBC (now Vitalant) center on Cataldo. I could be found in the recruitment department every Friday afternoon and had tasks such as printing flyers and calling donors. I continued doing this for almost two years before graduating high school. After I graduated, I went to Carroll College in Helena, MT where I double majored in chemistry and biology with a plan to pursue medical school. However, the pandemic was upon us less than a year later, and the whole medical field changed dramatically. After working in various positions in the medical field, I knew medical school wasn’t for me. However, I still wanted to help my community. When I began looking for a new job, tried to find something where I could improve society. I was so excited to see that Vitalant was hiring for a new recruiting position. I’ve been in this position for just over a year now, and I’m as committed as ever to helping our community. In this position, I have the ability to help so many people in our local community!”
Thank you Audrey for inspiring all of us here at GSI to donate blood and remind ourselves how important this life-saving activity is! GSI’s own blood drive is on July 25. If you’d like to join us contact Leona Perry, GSI’s events & programs manager. Contact Vitalant to donate blood.
