Students urged to donate blood at Nov. 12 event

By Rachel Swafford

There will be an American Red Cross blood drive in the Parker Student Union on Thursday, Nov. 12, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

“Up to 20% of the blood drive donations for the Red Cross come from high school and college students,” said Jan Hale, communication manager for the American Red Cross Central Plains Blood Services Region.

Every year in the U.S., about 5 million people need blood transfusions.

They may need one because of loss of blood during surgery, an injury sustained during a car accident, a wound from fighting overseas, and many other reasons.

The American Red Cross Association is an organization that focuses on making the world a better place and taking care of the people who live in it. They are most widely known for their blood drives.

“Every two seconds, somebody in our country needs blood,” Hale said. “The only way we have enough available, is for people to generously roll up their sleeves and donate a pint of blood.”

“Everybody needs to donate blood,” said Drew Thompson, Dallas, Texas.

Thompson, a sopho-more at HCC, has donated several times before.

“People need blood. I’ve got blood,” Thompson said. “Also, not to brag, but I’m AB positive.”

Because of generous people, approximately 5.6 million blood donations are collected by the Red Cross every year.

Will Ervin, Junction City, has never donated blood.

“I’m afraid of needles; I hate them,” Ervin said.

As much as he doesn’t like needles, Ervin said that he would consider donating blood someday.

Sadly, some people are not able to donate.

“If you can’t donate blood, recruit someone else to donate in your place,” Hale said.

“I’ve never donated blood because I never weighed enough,” said Lindsey Lampe, Mulvane.

If you can’t donate blood, you could also volunteer to help out at a blood drive.

“If I had the chance to do it, I would donate blood,” said Ty Holt, Abiline.

Hale likes to stress how important colleges are to the Red Cross.

“We really, really, depend on college students to come in and donate,” Hale said.

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