Red Cross Youth Volunteer Sandy Tesch Represents Local Community in Kenya
  

Looking for something to quell her boredom one summer, 14-year-old Sandy Tesch sent letters to different local charity organizations expressing an interest in volunteering with them. The only response she received was from the local American Red Cross chapter. She began her work with the American Red Cross Bay Area Chapter as a clerical volunteer two days per week. She was the youth club’s first youth volunteer, and she played a key role in the restructure of the youth program.

After high school, Tesch continued her education at the University of California, Berkeley, and started a Red Cross Club on the university’s campus. Remaining in the Bay Area after graduation, Tesch continues to work in depth with the Red Cross. Committed to helping local youth see how they can engage in a lifetime of service, Tesch leads by example. She volunteers locally on the San Francisco Disaster Action Team, and is the chair person for Red Cross Youth Services. Tesch still volunteers on a national level, and serves as the chair of the alumni board on the Youth Council.

What Tesch wants people to understand is that there are many ways to maintain involvement with the Red Cross after high school and college. With so many areas of service within the Red Cross, remaining active in the organization is as flexible as you need it to be. “It fits your life for anything you want it to,” Tesch said.

Recently, her service on the alumni board has taken her and the current chair of the National Youth Council, Pat West, to Kenya for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Council of Delegates. Every Red Cross and Red Crescent Society in the world was represented. Among items of the agenda was the election of a new federation president, vice president and governing board. Focusing on youth, Tesch and West were there to ask those running their positions on youth volunteers, what they would do if elected, and how they would help support youth volunteers.

In addition, they held side meetings with other youth delegates to discuss youth policy within the organization. Tesch says that about half of the Red Cross and Red Crescent volunteers worldwide are under the age of 30.

Through her work and travels with the Red Cross, Tesch has truly experienced the international scope of the organization. With more than 97 million volunteers, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent societies comprise the world’s largest humanitarian network. “No matter where you go you will find a Red Cross and Red Crescent society… it feels like you are part of a global family,” she said.