Key Club hosted a blood drive on Friday, Dec. 15. The blood drive collected 22 pints of blood, which can save up to 66 lives. Thirty five donors signed up and there were four first time donors.
“We wanted to have a blood drive to allow students to have the opportunity to save lives. The feeling that donors receive following a donation is a wonderful feeling of accomplishment and gratitude. Being able to do so little and yet help so many is an absolute blessing,” Key Club president Aleea Lichtenberg said.
While wanting to help the community is a good reason for donating on its own, participating in blood drives can also be beneficial for the donors.
“The initiative serves a dual purpose by providing student donors with the opportunity to participate in the Gallon Grad program and potentially access scholarships through the Community Blood Center. To qualify for these opportunities, students must meet a specified blood donation threshold,” Key Club adviser Suzanne Wood said.
But the students who donated did not just do it for the programs.
“It’s something nice to do for the community,” junior Aidan Pierstorff said.
The process of setting up a blood drive is not difficult for Key Club as the Community Blood Center takes care of the bloodmobile and the donation process.
“Key Club works on getting enough donors for the day,” Wood said.
Getting donors can be somewhat difficult at times, but Key Club has been able to do it so far.
“We have a set goal of slots to fill each drive and we have successfully beat our goal each time,” Lichtenberg said.
Key Club also has some different ways to get more students signed up for the blood drive.
“To encourage people to sign up, Key Club buys gift cards for a raffle. Everyone who signs up gets one entry, and if they successfully donate, they get an extra entry,” Wood said.
But a challenge that was faced during the blood drive was that many potential donors were disqualified for different reasons.
“Unfortunately about 15 potential donors were turned away for reasons such as high pulses and low hemoglobin,” Lichtenberg said.
For those who were able to donate the process and experience was straightforward.
“It’s real simple, really easy,” Pierstorff said.
Part of what makes the process so easy is the Key Club does lots of work to make the day run smoothly.
“The day before the blood drive, we give out water bottles, granola bars, and reminder cards with helpful tips for the donation day,” Wood said.
The next blood drive is Friday, Feb. 9, and people can sign up now by either emailing or talking to Wood.
“It is our hope that all students eligible to donate choose to sign up as their donation will save countless others,” Lichtenberg said.