Believe it or not, you are somebody’s type: ours. No matter what type, if your blood is red, clean, and 16 years or older, you are cordially invited to Chesterton High School’s spring blood drive. On April 10, the CHS Red Cross Club will host a blood drive for students in the main gym, where club members volunteer to take care of those kind enough to participate. The CHS Main Gym is transformed into a miniature hospital for the day, complete with beds, nurses, snacks, and all other supplies necessary to ensure the process goes as smoothly as possible. Just like past blood drives at CHS, this coming event is sure to produce a hefty, lifesaving supply of blood to thousands of people in need.
The CHS Red Cross Club is a popular extracurricular amongst the student body because of its good cause and volunteer opportunities, much like the ones provided by the blood drive. The operation is run by the students in the club, with the help of Danielle Gingrich, CHS business teacher in addition to Red Cross Club’s sponsor. The club does just about everything except collect the blood themselves. Besides organizing the event, student volunteers help to make the experience as smooth-sailing as possible for the donors as well as the Red Cross employees by assisting in the heat of the operation. Student involvement does not only go that far. In fact, it is the students who shed the most blood for the event. The event is student-led and student-powered; most if not all donors at past CHS blood drives have been students. Oftentimes, students will leave having contributed to the cause as both a donor and a volunteer. This drive, however, will be more inclusive to the public with the addition of a mobile donation van outside of the high school that will help to better incorporate the community, which is an innovation sure to bring in more pints of blood than ever before.
Because the Red Cross Club’s upcoming blood drive provides opportunities for volunteering and donating, it leaves few excuses for nonparticipants. Naturally, there are certain health requirements that permit an individual to be able to lose that much blood in one sitting, and even an age requirement of 16 years or older that requires parental approval. Then, of course, hemophobia, or the fear of blood which keeps others away from donating. Still, it remains one of the most popular and beneficial charities hosted in Duneland, and for good reason. Blood donation is a stream of life to millions of people, some of whose only hope is a transfusion that contains the blood of a healthy, lucky, and generous individual.
“Blood donation is such an easy way to help out,” says Gingrich after noting her own habit of donating. “It takes very little time and it can be so impactful.”
The beneficiaries were everyday people who, upon a simple twist of fate, became cancer patients, burn patients, sickle cell patients, or some other kind that could be cured with the same simple substance: human blood. Events like this help conjure up a supply of it that returns people to their happy and healthy selves. When extracted, the dose of blood is not enough to drain the life out of somebody, but when injected, it is enough to revive life in another. If you can spare those few drops, visit RedCrossBlood.org and enter CHSPublic to schedule an appointment at the Chesterton High School Blood Drive. Give the gift of life.
