By Adam Stauffer '18
An event frequently hosted at Villa Angela-St. Joseph high school is the blood drive. The blood drive is a day that people from the Red Cross come to our school and hold blood donations.
“I often tell donors that if your loved one was in desperate need of blood, you would be counting on a stranger that you will never meet to keep your loved one alive,” says VASJ science chair and Red Cross Club Moderator Mrs. Melissa Grai.
At VASJ’s most recent blood drive held on April 15, the school collected 43 pints of blood and impacted 125 lives. A total of 71 people in the VASJ community came forward to donate. VASJ’s Red Cross Club helps saves lives in our community and is a very important program at our school.
In order to donate blood, students must be sixteen or older. If a student's iron levels are too low, or if the student is dehydrated, or anything else that may cause issues occur, the student would be ineligible to donate blood. To be sure that everything goes smoothly they hold tests to make sure a donor is eligible to donate.
One of the biggest concerns of most students is the fear of needles and members of the Red Cross Club serve as student volunteers who comfort the students who are donating.
“Going into it, everyone thinks that giving blood is painful, but that pain is nothing compared to saving a life,” says VASJ sophomore and blood donor Jon Adkins.
Adam Stauffer is a sophomore at VASJ and a member of National Honor Society. He is a manager of the VASJ basketball team and a member of the golf and track teams.