70 Xaverian students were proud to offer their help as part of the annual blood drive on Friday, February 2^nd. With their participation, students were able to potentially save the lives of 210 individuals, with each donation able to help three lives, whether they be victims of accidents or burns, heart surgery and organ transplant patients, people fighting cancer, women with pregnancy and childbirth issues, as well as children with serious anemia

 

More than 38,000 blood donations are needed every day, and with a national blood donor shortage, Xaverian’s contributions helped the cause. The amount of people donating blood has decreased by two-thirds as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and the New York Blood Center is working hard to reverse the trend. 

 

According to the New York Blood Center, each year, five million Americans are in need of blood transfusion. In the United States, someone is in need of blood or platelets every two seconds. Around 29,000 units of red blood cells are needed per day. Along with this, almost 5,000 units of platelets and 6.500 units of plasma are needed every single day, and almost 16 million components of blood are transfused each year.

 

According to the guidance counselor and National Honor Society coordinator who put together this event, Mr. Moon, “We have been working with New York Blood Center, which has been in service since 1964. When a representative from NYBC comes to our school to make a presentation, he/she lets our students know that donating a pint of blood saves many lives.”

 

Xaverian student Genevieve described the action being taken in the blood drive as “an opportunity to draw attention to our school and set a positive example for other schools who are thinking about taking part in blood donation as well.”

 

Genevieve continues, “High School students who take part in this movement build maturity and improve in team spirit by working together with an end goal of helping someone who is suffering with health issues.”

 

The New York Blood Center is one of the biggest independent, community-based blood centers, which provides people with the highest quality blood, stem cell products, and similar medical and consultative services to hospitals and patients.

 

If more and more people donate blood both in schools and around the world, our society will be on a good path to reaching the health and happiness we all long for and desire in our everyday lives.