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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