From making Valentine’s for custodial staff to donating 181 fire alarms, LSU’s Red Cross chapter is a club dedicated to disaster prevention and relief.
LSU’s chapter of the well-known disaster relief organization was founded by Mihir Babbar and Corinne David three years ago. While David has since moved on to LSU’s nursing school, Babbar, a senior studying biological sciences, currently serves as the club’s president.
The club has continuous enrollment and encourages students from all backgrounds to join. Anastacia Gelman, a senior studying biological sciences, currently serves as a volunteer coordinator for the club. She recalls her first time showing up to a meeting and being welcomed by both Babbar and David.
“I remember the first time I joined,” Gelman said. “I walked into a meeting right as it ended, and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I just missed the entire meeting because I couldn’t find parking,’ and Corinne watched me walk in and they went over the entire meeting with me, even though they didn’t even know who I was and they didn’t know if I was gonna stay, and I just thought that was so meaningful.”
With over 175 active members, the club has seen a lot of growth and its impact spreads far past Baton Rouge. Since the founding of LSU’s chapter, Babbar has helped start eight other Red Cross clubs across the state, including chapters at Xavier University, Louisiana Tech University and Mandeville High School.
“I’ve helped start about eight different Red Cross clubs within the state, from Xavier to Holy Cross to Southeastern, LA Tech, Mandeville High,” Babbar said. “Just to be able to spread the mission and get so many people riled up towards one organization, I think it’s so cool and it shows the power of when a lot of people get together and the impact they can have.”
Earlier this month the club held its “Sound the Alarm” event where members visited over 75 homes and installed 181 fire alarms to help over 240 people. This year’s event took place in the 70805 area code where volunteers went from door to door educating people on fire safety.
Gelman was one of the many volunteers at the event. She recalled walking into the home of an elderly man whose wife had recently died and found his stove on.
“We walk in and his burner on his stove is literally just running and he didn’t even remember when he turned it on,” Gelman said. “So it’s stuff like that is why we do it. He didn’t have any smoke alarms in his house at all.”
With many of the leaders of the club soon graduating, other members will be stepping up to take more of a leadership role. Matthew Schexnayder, a junior studying biochemistry and the vice president of the club, said he is excited to take on a bigger role.
“There’s a lot of opportunity to prove it to yourself that you can do it,” Schexnayder said. “The club’s definitely taught me to be ready and to really prime yourself for success because you just never know when something bad could happen.”
Jackson Brandt, a junior studying biological sciences, serves as the club’s treasurer. He hopes that as the club grows it can expand financially to be able to do more for the community. This includes getting a club bank account so the group can host more drives and events to support both campus and Baton Rouge overall.
“I think a lot of effort goes into obviously starting the club,” Brandt said. “So I think now that it’s kind of more established, we can focus our efforts to making it bigger and greater.”
To join the Red Cross Club at LSU, students can follow its Instagram @lsuredcrossclub to be updated on upcoming volunteer events.
