On Friday March 19 Leesville held its second blood drive this year. The drive contributed 115 units of blood and was an astounding success, which will end up saving a little over 300 lives.
The American Red Cross set up donor stations throughout the auxiliary gym where donors went through a four step process involving reading education material, answering personal health questions, donating blood and recuperating in the ‘canteen’.
“It’s a good way for the students to help people and it is practical community service, said Craig Ross. “It also exposes the kids to becoming donors for life”.
There were 51 first time donors; this is a significantly larger number compared to our school’s past blood drives. Kathryn Lee, junior, described her experience “I was so nervous about giving blood for the first time. I saw a few people that didn’t have a very good experience, but it was not something I had to worry about, it didn’t hurt at all.”
So many people desired to contribute to the drive that people were sent back to classes because of not enough nurses and supplies.
“I cannot believe that we actually had to turn students away,” said Cat Lewis, American Red Cross donor recruit representative. “I could not be sorrier about this and next year we will plan for the drive to be larger to accommodate all the students willing to donate.”
“The satisfaction of helping a person is what keeps me and I am sure everyone else donating,” said Lee. The next blood drive will take place on October 8, 2010.
