Chuck and his wife Nancy have been Vitalant volunteers since 2005 with Chuck now nearing 2,000 hours! Their volunteer roles have changed over the years, but Chuck loves the independence of his work which involves weekly stocking of copy rooms and employee lounge supplies. Nancy helps in the Mail Room.

“I enjoy volunteering at Vitalant where people are gracious and friendly,” says Chuck. “Once I know what I need to do and know if there are any changes I need to be aware of, I can get to it! When you are older and retired, volunteering gives you something to do and Vitalant is a great place to give your time. I encourage others to learn about the opportunities because volunteers are needed.”

After 35 years of teaching English and Latin classes at a local high school in Billings, Pat Evans decided he wanted to do something different after retiring. He has been a volunteer with Vitalant – Billings since 2016.
Pat has donated over four thousand hours since his retirement.
Pat is the smiling face that welcomes our donors. He takes it upon himself to make sure our donor refreshments are ready to go – sometimes coming in the day before his scheduled shifts to re-stock supplies. He cares deeply for our donors and our staff. He wants to help our staff, so they do not have to worry about the “small stuff.”  
During the pandemic, Pat was available to take care of our blood donors. When Pat is not at the center, donors always miss him. Vitalant-Billings has been blessed to have such a wonderful volunteer in Pat Evans.

With almost 4,000 hours logged, Alan has been a Vitalant volunteer since 1992, making him one of the longest-serving volunteers in the Chicagoland area.
While working full-time and volunteering at a hospital, Alan still manages to volunteer and make a difference for donors.
In addition to volunteering to greet other donors and help with refreshments, Alan is also a blood donor himself, having make over 240 donations!
Alan says his primary motivation for volunteering is it feels good to contribute to society and help others. 

Lorenzo has been volunteering with us since our very 1st volunteer opportunity at Barnett Harley Davidson in July 2022. Since then, he has contributed over 44 hours with many of the drives being led by him.

Lorenzo is someone we can count on to lead our blood drives. He is very professional in his approach and goes above and beyond for our donors. He has a very likable demeanor and a friendly presence.

“Volunteering allows me to think beyond myself and give toward a greater goal.” -Lorenzo

Ken started donating blood with Vitalant as a challenge to himself to get over his fear of needles. When he moved closer to a Vitalant Donation Center the staff proposed he starts donating platelets to cancer patients. After visiting with the staff some more he was told about Vitalant’s Volunteer Program and was invited to a Volunteer Luncheon.

At the luncheon, a former volunteer spoke about the 10,000 miles he had traveled helping deliver blood to local hospitals and bringing back blood from blood drives to the local laboratory processing location. He thought to himself, I am retired and have some time.

On that day he decided to make 10,000 miles his next goal by volunteering with Vitalant. Since then Ken has graciously traveled over 20,000 miles.

Linda began her volunteer journey with Vitalant in the Spring of 2020. She started as a temperature taker at the height of COVID and then she transitioned to be a refreshment volunteer for two Spokane Collection Centers.

In 2022 Linda expanded her volunteer duties by giving her time to the HLA lab where she gets boxes ready for the patients on the kidney list. The HLA lab gets samples to monitor their antibody profiles and has them on hand for stat-cross matches. If Linda wasn’t doing enough, she also started driving in 2022. As a Transportation volunteer, she is moving life-saving blood products to Hospitals in the region, and she also collects blood products from our mobile blood drives to bring back to the Components lab to begin the manufacturing process.

Volunteers who believe in and support our mission, like Linda, ensure our blood products are received where they are needed in a timely manner. Linda has given us 650 hours of her time, has driven 10,444 miles, and completes about 120 boxes each month for HLA. Thank you, Linda!

After moving to Mesa from Colorado, I was fortunate enough to find a volunteer opportunity with Vitalant. 
The majority of my volunteer time is spent at donation centers where I am able to develop relationships with both the staff and donors. 

I believe so much in Vitalant’s mission that I’m not only a volunteer – I’m also a donor!

Dawn Sheldon