A new chapter of the American Red Cross has started on campus, making it the first college chapter in the Metro New York area.

Senior and campus minister Jessica Velasco wanted to start the chapter after interning for the American Red Cross Youth Services over the summer. One of her tasks as an intern was to create a template on how to start a Red Cross club.

“Since I created it, why not just start one?” said Velasco.

One of the goals Velasco has for the club is to prepare Iona for disasters such as fires or hurricanes.

“Last year, with Hurricane Sandy, the school had a great protocol on how to deal with the aftermath, but the students weren’t prepared,” said Velasco. “I’d like to have the students learn how to be safe.”

One of the ways the club will help with disaster preparedness is by teaching the club’s members how to react when a disaster happens. The members would be certified in CPR and disaster preparedness. Once they have been trained, the goal would be to teach non-members how to deal with disasters and emergencies.

Another goal of the club is to have certified students go out into the community and help victims of natural disasters and fires. The students wouldn’t put out the house fire, but would help comfort the family whose house had just been affected by the fire.

The club’s first event was a blood drive on Oct. 30. The event was co-sponsored with the Delta Theta Beta sorority. Velasco is hoping that the club will have a larger role in running the event next year.

“I would love to see our students running the snack table and leading the event,” Velasco said.

The second event that the club will host is a disaster-training course on Nov. 20.

The two to three hour course will teach students how to be prepared for disasters and teach them how to respond to various emergencies, especially hurricanes.

“Ideally, our students would be one of the first responders to the emergency,” said Velasco.

In order to be a member of the club, students must go onto the American Red Cross website and create an account under Volunteer Connections. After the student has a profile, the student then can go out into the community and help at American Red Cross shelters and events.

However, Velasco doesn’t want to turn away students who previously haven’t signed up on Volunteer Connections from helping out.

Apps like Team Red Cross allow anyone at anytime to register and help out at with disaster and emergency relief.

“They [American Red Cross] don’t want to turn away any people, but for the safety for others, they have people register and be certified,” said Velasco.

The Iona chapter of the American Red Cross is looking for new members. Meetings are Thursdays at noon in Conference Room 1 in LaPenta. Contact Jessica Velasco at [email protected] or Carl Procario-Foley at [email protected] with any questions.