On April 12, Hoisington High School hosted a Red Cross blood drive. Over 60 students, faculty, staff, and community members went through the process of donating. Out of the 60 plus people that came in to donate, the Red Cross received 54 good units of blood. The goal for the Hoisington High School and Community was 41 units of blood.  The Hoisington community has not hit their goal in over a year.
Students who are members of the National Honor Society and some community members served as volunteers for the event.
NHS sponsor London Reif said, “The idea behind hosting the blood drive at the high school was to get students involved in the act of donating blood. If they start now, hopefully it will become something they do their whole life.  We had 15 students come in to donate, of which 11 were allowed to give. Most of these students were first time donors.  I feel we were successful in our efforts to get students active in this process. Hopefully we can do this again next year.”
Spring is a time for the Red Cross to rebuild the blood supply after severe weather has canceled more than 425 blood drives and caused a shortfall of more than 16,000 blood and platelet donations since the beginning of February.
The Red Cross is extremely thankful to everyone who volunteered and came out to donate blood at the Hoisington High School and Community blood drive. It is important to donate blood whenever you can; there are many people whose lives depend on it each and every day.
Hoisington Community will host a blood drive June 13 at the Hoisington Activity Center. The hours are 2 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Community members who wish to sign-up to donate blood on June 13 may do so online or by phone. To sign up online, visit www.redcross.org and follow the prompts under “Give Blood.” To schedule an appointment by phone, call 1-800-REDCROSS (733-2767).