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Hancock Field Airman appointed chair of Red Cross Armed Forces committee at SUNY Cortland

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Duane Morgan
  • 174th Attack Wing
Hancock Field Air National Guard Base, Syracuse, NY --  New York Air National Guard Senior Airman Zach Taillie, Emergency Action Controller with the 174th Attack Wing, was recently selected as the chair of the Armed Forces Committee for the SUNY Cortland American Red Cross Club.

Taillie was asked to join the club by his friend Crystal Russell, who is the president of the club.

Taillie, an exercise science major, immediately agreed to become a member of the club.

"I thought it would be a great chance to get involved and help give back to the community," said Taillie

The American Red Cross clubs are all college based. Members have a majority vote for who holds the chair and president positions, and once you leave the college you can no longer hold that position. The work that the club does is all volunteer based so once you leave the school you can still be an active volunteer with the school club.

Even though they have done volunteer work for the American Red Cross in the past, the club wasn't officially recognized at SUNY Cortland until two months ago.

The SUNY Cortland American Red Cross club currently has 26 members who plan and participate in events around the community.
Students from the Cortland community show love and support for all of the troops serving our country.

"We made a banner for the troops about 15 feet long," said Taillie. "I reserved a table for four days expecting it to take that long to fill the entire banner with signatures. I worked the last shift that same day and by the time I showed for my shift it was almost completely covered with signatures. Next year we'll have to do it bigger and better."

"It's amazing how fast people have jumped at the chance just to say thank you," said Taillie.

Taillie enjoys his time volunteering and believes his experiences with the club will help him in the future.

"Next year we plan on holding a night time Olympic event and we're going to donate all the proceeds to the Wounded Warrior program," said Taillie. "I hope we get a really good team together when we host that event."

For more information on SUNY Cortland American Red Cross club contact Zach Taillie at ztaillie@yahoo.com