Red Cross volunteer cited

DAGUPAN CITY ,Philippines — A male nurse who works as a part-time clinical instructor in two universities in Pangasinan was awarded one of the 10 Most Outstanding Red Cross Youth of the Philippines for his “little works but with great impact on the people and their community.”

Randy Mendoza, 25, of San Carlos City, Pangasinan became a youth volunteer – out of curiosity, he said – of the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) when he was still a sophomore in college. He told The STAR that he had joined several organizations but was looking for a group where he could find a true sense of belonging. He volunteered with the PRC and got hooked.

Despite his full schedule, he has devoted all his free time as volunteer of PRC pushing for youth programs, recruiting students as blood donors, training them on leadership, among others. In fact, he seldom goes home as he has chosen to stay in his second home, the PRC building in Barangay Herrero-Perez, which is open 24 hours a day.

Nominees for the coveted award came from 98 PRC chapters all over the country. The nominees underwent rigid screening through interviews, written examination and test of leadership skills.

“Admittedly, wala akong nagawang malaki pero maliliit na bagay na nakapagbigay ng malalaking epekto sa community (I didn’t do big things but small things only that had big effects on the community),” he said. Among the “small things” that he did were going to communities to educate people about disaster response, volunteerism, blood donation, and others.

Mendoza and his group were at the forefront of rescue efforts during four recent devastating typhoons that hit Pangasinan, like “Cosme,” “Ondoy,” “Pepeng” and, more recently, “Juan,” reaching out to people who were stranded due to rampaging flood waters as well as landslides and damaged infrastructure.

“But of course, whenever we donate blood, we are saving people’s lives,” he said.

Mendoza said the award challenges him to work harder and to help more people in need. “I’ll be a PRC volunteer forever, for the rest of my life,” he said.