Every year, the Student Council hosts five blood drives: three during the school year and two in the summer. Recently, they hosted a blood drive in January where they exceeded their goal of 90 units. A “unit” is a pint of blood which is the standard donation. 

On average, the Student Council service committee’s two chairs (senior Ava Gardner–chair and junior Kaden Bredeweg–co-chair) work all day and 4-5 additional Student Council members work on shifts: morning and afternoon. In the past three years, an average of 100 people have come in to donate during the school year blood drives. The summer drives tend to be much smaller but equally as important. 

The school teams up with Versiti which used to be “Michigan Blood.” Versiti is chosen over Red Cross because the donated blood stays in Michigan. “Even as local as the hospitals in Grand Rapids,” said co-adviser Frau Wedge. In fact, after someone donates blood, Versiti sends the donors an email stating their blood type and where their blood has gone. 

The blood drives are open to the public but most donors are students. This is partly due to the donor for life cord (red). If a student donates blood six or more times, they can earn this cord to wear at graduation. Currently, almost 40 seniors this year qualify to receive the cord. A handful of other students are looking to get added to the list with the last blood drive in March. 

There are also incentives for donating blood: food, drinks, and getting out of class. All of these help the Student Council get kids to sign up so they can meet their goal of 90 out of around 130 units. The Student Council pays for the food and drinks, but some of it is donated. They’ve offered 100% juice and multiple snacks in the past that are helpful to students giving blood. 

The January blood drive was extremely successful because they surpassed their goal and donated 94 units of blood. So, many seniors are excited for the next blood drive coming up in March because they can graduate with the donor for life cord. Others are looking forward to skipping class while being rewarded with food.