The Southern Door High School Student Council is partnering with the American Red Cross to sponsor a blood drive on Wednesday, May 7th in the high school gym. Donors can stop by between 9am-2pm. The event, which is run each year, is held to bring awareness of the importance of blood donation.
“This is one of the many things that we do to bring attention to the ongoing need that there’s always a shortage on shelves of blood donation,” said Student Council Advisor Troy Pertzborn.
According to the American Red Cross, who provides 40% of our nation’s blood component supply, someone in the United States needs blood every two seconds due to an accident, natural disaster, or requires a transfusion as a result of an illness.
“When unexpected events occur that’s who a lot of times this blood goes to,” said Pertzborn, “but really, it can be anybody in the community who needs it, whether it comes directly from this direct blood drive or not.”
Members of the Student Council will be helping to run the drive throughout the day and encourage others in the community to stop in to support the cause. An ideal donor is someone who is in good health, weighs a minimum of 110 pounds, and is at least 17 years of age. Individuals who are 16 may also donate with a parent permission form, which is available on the Red Cross website.
“Many of those who are not involved in the Student Council choose to donate and it just promotes a good cause and is making a sacrifice for that 45 minutes or so to help those in need,” said Pertzborn.
The Student Council’s goal this year is to collect 42 pints of blood by each donor providing one. A donor can also opt to contribute two pints which is called a Power Red donation.
“There’s a special machine for that and although they’re taking more blood out of the person, the machine also puts back in more fluids than it normally would,” said Pertzborn.
In addition to supporting an important endeavor, Pertzborn says students volunteering with the Student Council have the opportunity to change their own futures through The Red Cross Leaders Save Lives Scholarship. The scholarship is primarily geared for high school seniors and is sent directly to the college they have chosen to attend.
“The Red Cross does award a scholarship amount depending on how many pints that we donate,” said Pertzborn, “we can get up to 2,000 that will be donated to the Student Council that we then divvy up if there’s a certain amount of students that we know gave a lot of time and energy to the Student Council throughout the whole year.”
Prospective donors can sign up online at www.redcross.org to schedule an appointment to donate at the drive. Select the “Give Blood” tab and enter Brussels zip code (54204). Walk-ins are welcome as well and those interested in donating can stop by Southern Door High School located at 2073 County Road DK in Brussels and enter at door #11.
