The setup of the blood drive. Photo by Jesaias Benitez.
The American Red Cross is a humanitarian organization which provides emergency assistance. A few of the many events they organize to give back to those in need are blood drives. According to the American Red Cross, there is no limit to the donation of blood. Malden High American Red Cross club members and students and teachers have taken it upon themselves to take part in these donations.
For several years now, the American Red Cross Club has been holding this drive. The Club began with the help of advisor Kristen Kirby and was then passed on to Chris Giordano, Math teacher at Malden High School. A member at the Red Cross, Jalen Galen helped them organize the blood drive.
This year the drive was held on Thursday December 6th in the Finn Gym from 8AM to 1PM. In order to have been able to donate blood only few requirements came along to fully fulfill the donation. Every donor had to at least be 16 years old with parental permission or 18 years old without parental permission with the weight of at least 110 pounds. This is because blood volume is in proportion to your body weight therefore if you were under 110 pounds and had blood removed you may not be able to tolerate the removal.
President of the American Red Cross Club, Joanne Ho, and Vice President ,Erica Mei expressed that this drive is very important to them and what their club stands for. “ [Their] club is a little different in how [they] give back to the community. Instead of doing walks, [they] want to make a direct impact by donating blood to those in need” Ho claimed. All the blood they collect (about a pint from each person, and two units of Power Red) go to local hospitals.
Mei persuaded students to donate their blood to the drive during all lunches monday December 3rd to wednesday the 5th. Donator Guanhua Ao signed up and expressed that his reason for donating is that “it is simply the right thing to do” giving back to the community that is.
According to Ho, the blood drives are not the only things that Red Cross participates in. They have participated in food drives as well in the past, but the two blood drives they hold each year are the most important.
Although results of how much blood was drawn from students at Malden High have not come out yet, Joanne Ho states that they will be holding another blood drive in April and hope that more people will step up and get involved in helping out their community.
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