When Alexandra Cuadra began volunteering at Susan G. Komen in Seattle, the idea was that it would keep her busy until she found a job.

The former Redmond resident — who just moved to Bellevue earlier this month — now has a job working at the Millionair Club Charity in Seattle but continues to donate her time to the breast-cancer foundation on a regular basis.

“They are really nice people,” Cuadra said about the staff and other volunteers at Komen. “It’s fun. It’s something I really enjoy.”

As a volunteer, her duties have ranged from manning information tables at various events to educate people, to stuffing envelopes.

While educating people on breast cancer, one of the challenges she has come across has been getting the message through to younger women. Cuadra — who is 23 — said it is difficult to get them to understand the importance of getting screened because young people think they are invincible and will not get sick.

“That’s not the truth” she said.

Currently, Cuadra is working with Por La Mujer Hispana, a team for Komen Puget Sound’s upcoming Race for the Cure on June 2 at Seattle Center. The event is a fund-raiser with 75 percent of the money raised staying in the Puget Sound area to fund breast-cancer screenings, education and treatment support. The remaining 25 percent will fund global research to better diagnose, treat and help cure breast cancer.

Cuadra said they had 132 people on the Por La Mujer Hispana team. Their goal for this year is to have 200 people and they are still recruiting members.

Before she began volunteering with the organization, Cuadra admitted she was not familiar with Komen. She had moved to Redmond in August 2012 from Peru and the nonprofit was just one of many organizations she applied with to be a volunteer. Komen Puget Sound was looking for a volunteer who could speak Spanish to help with outreach to the Hispanic community and Cuadra fit the bill.

Volunteering is not anything new to Cuadra. She said when she was in Peru, she volunteered with kids.

“All my life, I try to be involved with helping people,” she said.

Cuadra said in addition to educating people, she works to help people understand that Komen’s services are available to everyone, regardless of their age, race, socioeconomic status or any other factors.

“We help everyone,” Cuadra said, adding that Komen’s outreach coordinator works with volunteers of various cultural backgrounds to reach as many people as possible.

Cuadra said her family does not have a history of breast cancer so she did not know much about the illness. As a result, she had to learn about it.

“First, I needed to educate myself,” she said about her first step before she began spreading the word.

In the time she has been with Komen, Cuadra said she has been inspired by her fellow volunteers — some of whom have been with the organization for about 10 years. She has also found inspiration with the Komen Puget Sound staff. She said there are only 13 people on staff, but they are able to put on large events such as Race for the Cure.

Cuadra has received thanks and praise for volunteering with Komen, but she brushes it off because she feels she gets more out of it.

“’You guys saved my life because I was in my house doing nothing,’” she said about her response to the accolades.