Red Cross Club hosts yet another successful blood drive

By Meg Boedeker, Managing Editor|October 11, 2018

Nebraska Community Blood Bank Nurse Holly Feese helps Bryant Pedreza (12) donate blood during the Red Cross Club Blood Drive in the West Gym on Friday, Oct. 5, 2018 while Will Brandt (12), Passmore Mudundulu (12), Zane Morales (10), and Cecelia Nguyen (10) provide moral support. Photo by Meg Boedeker

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By Meg Boedeker | LHS News|

Last Friday, October 5, 2018, Lincoln High’s Red Cross Club hosted a school-wide blood drive in the west gym. The drive was facilitated by the Nebraska Community Blood Bank, and Lincoln High students above the age of sixteen could participate.

“Red Cross club members raise funds and volunteer in the community, hold LHS blood drives, provide CPR training, HIV/AIDS awareness, and other peer education opportunities,” Red Cross club sponsor, Thomas Riley, said. Blood drives at Lincoln High take place numerous times throughout the year, and they are a quite rewarding experience to the students involved as well as to the blood transfusion patients who benefit. Just one donation of blood can save about three lives.

Photo by Meg Boedeker
Students line up to sign in to donate blood on October 5, 2018. Photo by Meg Boedeker

The blood drives at Lincoln High are usually successful, and this year was no different. However, one thing changed: “The difference this year is we are trying to create a set schedule for donors,” Riley said. The stability and health of those around us lies on willing-volunteers’ shoulders. It is up to them to do good for the betterment of the whole.

“The blood is taken to the Nebraska Community Blood Bank to be used in multiple ways. The blood can be used for transfusion in patients, or it can be used to make treatments for different blood diseases,” Riley said. A simple act of rolling up your sleeves can save three people.