MARCH 9 • 2023 | 25
FACING PAGE, CLOCKWISE: Volunteer Rachel Devries is
a regular blood donor. Rachel, in background, volunteers
with children at SandCastles grief support program through
Henry Ford. Rachel helps MSU Hillel students learn how to
get a job through Gesher Human Services and later as a
passion project.
She continues to ele-
vate her community as
the membership engage-
ment manager for the
Birmingham Bloomfield
Chamber of Commerce and
a participant in Leadership
Oakland. Devries has
served on committees of the
Jewish Working Women’s
Network, Partners in Torah
Young Adults and Tamarack
Camps’ Alumni.
The most fascinating
volunteer endeavor Devries
has undertaken is regularly
donating blood for almost
three years; specifically
donating 16 units (2 gal-
lons) of blood, 15 of those
units given since COVID-
19 began.
The first time Devries
donated blood was in high
school, which she describes
as a scary, rough experi-
ence. The next time she
gave blood was in college,
when she passed out on the
floor.
“That was one of my early
experiences with giving
blood and I was like, ‘Wow,
this is awful,’” she recalled.
“I really don’t like going
to the doctor, I don’t love
shots, I don’t love any of
that stuff. I often get very
dizzy.”
Flash forward to COVID
and just as everyone was
sitting at home, Devries was
wondering what she could
do to help the world get
better.
“I wanted to think of a
way I can give of myself,”
Devries said. “I feel like
sometimes we do good
deeds that are easy for us
to do, and I wanted to do
something that would chal-
lenge me.”
Since COVID began,
Devries has been donating
blood every six to eight
weeks or so.
On one hand, it has been
good practice for being in a
doctor’s office and making
it a little easier on herself
when she needed to give
blood or get a shot. But
mostly it’s been because of
her desire to help people
during the pandemic, with
every donation of her blood
possibly saving someone’s
life as a motivating factor.
Sometimes, but not
always, Devries still passes
out when giving blood. She
often still gets dizzy and
needs some extra care.
“But I continue to do it
because it does scare me,
and it’s pushing me out-
side my comfort zone and
also helping other people,”
Devries said. “For the
amount I don’t feel well for
the rest of an afternoon,
people’s lives could be
saved, so it just feels like the
benefits outweigh what I
have to go through.”
Devries wants people to
understand there are a mil-
lion different ways to volun-
teer, whether it’s their time,
energy, skills — or even
their blood.
“I feel like with the blood
donation, I give of my body,
and with the SandCastles
volunteering, I give of my
heart,” Devries said. “We
should be seeing how we
can help all people all the
time.”
PHOTO: JEREMY DANIEL
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