ACTS OF KINDNESS: Over 3000 American Red Cross volunteers help in Utah, led by Heidi Ruster

MURRAY, Utah (ABC4) —Each day the American Red Cross and its thousands of employees and volunteers here in Utah go about doing good. They are led by a woman who has been volunteering and working with the Red Cross for over 30 years.

Heidi Ruster, Chief Executive Officer for the Nevada and Utah region of the American Red Cross, started as a volunteer.  From the very beginning the goal for Heidi has been very simple:  help people in need.

Ruster takes us back to the first time she volunteered with the Red Cross.  It was 1992 and her family was in Spain where her husband was deployed. She said, “Job opportunities were minimal so I decided to start volunteering and the American Red Cross was the place to go and volunteer.”

For over 32 years now, she has lived the mission of the Red Cross, “Humanity, impartiality, neutrality and voluntary service those are the key issues. We work to address the needs of people in emergencies every day.”

Ruster has seen some of the best in the world come together at the most horrible moments.  This is what makes the American Red Cross so necessary for our communities and the world.

Ruster said, “It is so important that our organization is looked at as that neutral entity.  Because we are there to take care of the humanitarian need.  No matter the politics and no matter what the situations are – we are there to take care of the basic needs of the human.”

To do the work, the American Red Cross depends on their volunteers.  90% of the work in humanitarian services is done by a volunteer.  From replying to disasters, running blood drives or heading to a house fire in the middle of the night – Ruster and over 3,500 volunteers in Utah and Nevada provide needed care.

She explained, “The passion and the engagement our volunteers give to the community and the clients we serve is so authentic and it’s so real.  That’s what keeps me here.  Volunteers make the world go round.”

Ruster’s work with the American Red Cross and beyond has shown the possibility and opportunities to do good. She concluded, “It takes people of all capabilities, backgrounds and skill sets to do the work we do.  There is a place for everybody in the Red Cross.”

If you would like to volunteer with the Utah Red Cross, you can find information here.