*The Cleveland Browns are committed to the community. Through First and Ten, the Dawg Pound is encouraged to share what they are doing to give back. Get inspired and check out what these fans are doing to help their community:
*How do you give back?#give10
Looking for a way to give back to the community and help others? We have 11 First and Ten Community Partners with opportunities for you to give your 10 hours this year. This week we'll check out how you can get involved with the American Red Cross, who have opportunities throughout the year to give back.
The Cleveland Browns are proud to partner with the American Red Cross to connect and support the community locally and communities across the state and abroad. Through the Cleveland Browns First and Ten movement, Cleveland Browns staff and fans have the opportunity to give blood each year at the annual First and Ten blood drive during training camp.
It has been vital in supporting local patients during the difficult summer months. Browns blood drives at training camp and satellite sites throughout northeast Ohio have collected 7,690 pints of blood. Because each pint of blood has the potential to help up to three patients, over 23,000 lives have been touched by the efforts of the Cleveland Browns.
There are also other ways to give back and give 10 hours to help your community and save lives. Join the humanitarian team and begin efforts to help people from more than 19 counties when flooding or other natural disasters occur.
This March during Red Cross Month, the American Red Cross urges people to be heroes by donating blood or platelets, or becoming a volunteer. For the past 75 years, every March has been proclaimed Red Cross Month by the U.S. president. Red Cross Month is a celebration of the dedicated supporters who give their time and resources to help the Red Cross prevent and alleviate human suffering in the face of emergencies. The Red Cross has depended on local heroes to fulfill its mission for more than 130 years. Through the simple act of donating blood or platelets, eligible donors can help save lives and become heroes to patients in need.
The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies about 40 percent of the nation's blood; teaches skills that save lives; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a not-for-profit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission.
A local volunteer Ifat Gazia is a new Red Cross volunteer based in Wooster, Ohio, who was born and raised in the conflict zone in Kashmir. While there was so much going on around her, she felt the hospitality and empathy. Ifat began to pursue a career in journalism due to her love for storytelling, but she soon realized she wasn't passionate about it. She wanted to impact people and help them, so she began to study Human Rights, International Political Communication, Development, Information Communication Technology (ICT) and Media so that her writing could potentially help make the lives of common people better.
After moving to the United States, Ifat began working with the Red Cross and immediately felt the empathy she did at a young age in her country. The care staff and volunteers have for their communities was uplifting. "Thousands of volunteers respond to emergencies and disasters every year, keeping their personal priorities aside," Ifat said. "This is why I decided to volunteer for Red Cross and try to help with any skills I have got while I am here."
Terminal Tower will be lit red this month in celebration of all of the great work volunteers do and how the Red Cross has been helping save lives since 1943.
The American Red Cross is hosting a blood drive downtown from 7 a.m. – 7 p.m., register to give at redcrossblood.org.
Save the date and be on the lookout for ways to #give10 on World Blood Donor Day, June 14, 2018.
Visit their website for more information on how to sign up to be a volunteer and support the local community.
Interested in signing up your volunteer group for First and Ten? Group forms available! Click here***http://www.clevelandbrowns.com/community/firstandten.html**** to learn more about how to #give10*
Follow @BrownsGiveBack on Twitter and Instagram and tell us what you are doing to help others using #give10 to unite us all as Browns fans. Give 10 hours, help your community.
The Browns are dedicated to #give10 through the team's First and Ten initiative. Launched in June 2014, the Cleveland Browns First and Ten campaign is the team's community program, established to inspire fans to volunteer in and help their communities throughout the world by volunteering for 10 hours each year. Since its inception, Browns fans have committed to volunteering more than 1.5 million hours to impact their communities by pledging to #give10. Through First and Ten, the Browns are the only NFL club to promote a long-term volunteering program that unifies the team and its entire fan base, with the goal of impacting every individual's city across the globe, as well as the franchise's local community. All Browns fans are encouraged to join the volunteering effort by signing the First and Ten pledge on the team's website and by sharing their stories with #give10
