The National Honor Society (NHS) Blood Drive is an event run by King’s Way Christian Schools and the American Red Cross Association. While the prospect of donating blood might seem intimidating, the benefit of doing so is monumental. For those who don’t know, NHS is a group at the school made up of students who want to go above and beyond academically and lead the school. The NHS has run a blood drive on an annual basis since it was founded at the school. 

The American Red Cross Association runs blood drives like this one all over the country. According to the Red Cross website, every two seconds some in the U.S. needs blood. Approximately 29,000 units of blood are needed everyday in the U.S. with the average blood transfusion being three units. 

When asked about the turnout, NHS Member Aidan Suchecki explained that turnout at previous Blood Drives was generally seventy-five percent adults with only twenty-five percent students and around forty people total. Even though the event is mostly advertised inside the school, the actual event is open to those who are not students or staff members at King’s Way. The school isn’t the only place the event is advertised either, with it being advertised in the church that we share a location with as well. Additionally, NHS members advertise it to people outside of the school. Historically, parents of students make up a large portion of those who donate at these events. NHS president Haley Britowe commented that the goal for this year is twenty-five people with them being able to accommodate at most thirty-five people total. Around forty-five percent of the people currently signed up to donate are first time donors. 

The event was run in the Student Ministries upstairs in the high school building all day on Monday, December 12th. As of December 9th, twenty-two people had signed up making NHS only three donors away from reaching their goal of twenty-five. Bristowe also had this to say during our interview; “There’s going to be another blood drive in spring that everybody should sign up for as well.” This blood drive seems to be on track to exceed its donation goal which will hopefully benefit lots of people in need of blood transfusions. 

After the blood drive, Mrs. Hart, the King’s Way NHS Advisor, stated that the blood drive exceeded its goal of twenty-five donors and ended with thirty-two donors. This is part of a long running trend of blood drives that are run at our school with every single one exceeding the goal of twenty-five set by the American Red Cross Association. Like Haley Bristowe, Mrs. Hart also mentioned the blood drive happening this spring and also said that having two drives in a school year is something they’ve been doing since COVID-19 shut down the school in Spring of 2020. Mrs. Hart also wanted to express gratitude towards those who donated at the blood drive: “Thank you to all that supported by spending their time to donate blood.”