Prime Life Circuit

September, 2008

 

As a current member of the Board of Directors of the American Red Cross St. Louis Area Chapter, Mary Jo Blackwood has held leadership roles at both the Chapter and National levels for over 35 years. She served on the State Service Council, as a member of the Resolutions Committee for the National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio and the Chair of Volunteers at the 2004 National Convention in St. Louis, Missouri. At the St. Louis Area Chapter she serves on the Human Resources Committee and as Chair of the Health and Safety Committee.

 

While these leadership roles take time, energy and commitment, they are only a small portion of Mary Jo's contribution to the success of the American Red Cross. As a nurse, Mary Jo took the Red Cross CPR course in 1971 in Ohio, and became an instructor so she could teach others in the community. This inspired her husband, Tom, to volunteer with the Red Cross also.

 

One of the Blackwoods' favorite memories was hosting a CPR and First Aid training party at their home in Dayton, which a local television station filmed. In 1979, Mary Jo and Tom moved to St. Louis, and Mary Jo continued her volunteer service at the Red Cross in health and safety. Also, Mary Jo served as a shelter manager during the floods in 1993, and she is a regular platelet donor for the Missouri-Illinois Blood Services Region. The 1999 papal visit to St. Louis was the highlight of her volunteering career.

 

Recently, Mary Jo and Tom worked as National volunteer auditors. As a team, they conducted chapter audits for 20 smaller Red Cross chapters across the country. Tom focused on the financial side of the audit and Mary Jo on service delivery capacity. They encouraged chapters to work smarter, not harder. For Mary Jo, one of the saddest things she encounters is when a chapter must relinquish its charter-generally due to a chapter not having the resources needed to provide services at the level required by the Red Cross charter.

 

To Mary Jo, one of the American Red Cross strengths is that the organization is a good steward of the gifts made by donors. She believes in making unrestricted gifts because she feels the organization shows good judgment in managing its finances and spending money where the need is greatest. Restricting a gift is counterproductive because it is not possible for a donor to know where the need is greatest when their money is spent. According to Mary Jo, donors need to be able to trust the organization to make those decisions.

 

The Blackwoods continue to make unrestricted gifts to the American Red Cross St. Louis Area Chapter with their current support as members of the Clara Barton Society and through a substantial planned gift they made through a trust. "The planned gift seemed like a great way to help the Red Cross beyond my lifetime in some small way. We set it up as a percentage of our estate to a cap, and hope with careful investing that it will hit that cap!"