Heather Pritchett

Heather Pritchett was ready for disaster even before she became the Volunteer Coordinator for the Arlington County Chapter of the American Red Cross. She began her relationship with the organization as an AmeriCorps volunteer, when she received First Aid and Disaster Services training from the Red Cross as part of her role.

She liked the Red Cross so much, she ended up accepting a position with them just a few months later.

"When the Arlington County Chapter had an opening for a Volunteer Coordinator, I knew it was the perfect job for me," says Pritchett.

It looks like she may have been right about that, given that Pritchett says her favorite part about the job is working with volunteers.

"I am constantly surrounded by people who inspire me," she said. "Our volunteers, young and old, take time out of their busy lives to give back to the community."

Arlington County is one of the smaller Red Cross chapters in the country, yet in August they received 33 matches from interested volunteers through VolunteerMatch alone - more than one a day! Dedicated staff like Pritchett help to make this happen.

Since recruiting and engaging youth volunteers is both a priority and a challenge for Pritchett, VolunteerMatch is a valuable resource for her in reaching out to a younger, web-savvy audience.

"We post our new Volunteer Orientations and sporadic volunteer requests on VolunteerMatch, and often receive more referrals than expected."

Somehow, Pritchett even has enough energy left over to cite one of her hobbies as "volunteering," which shows how seriously she takes her career in service, and how much she cares about her community.