The Cinnaminson High School (CHS) blood drive took place on Friday, February 1 when CHS worked with the American Red Cross in collecting donations from students, teachers and community members for the event.

The blood drive is in its tenth year at CHS and is currently run by the National Honor Society and their first-time NHS advisers, Mrs. Laskowski and Ms. Gartland.  They are also assisted by a number of student volunteers who are members of NHS, who help the American Red Cross through a number of jobs, such as walking patients to and from areas and assisting with snacks after participants have donated blood. 

“I believe the purpose of the drive is of course to collect donations, but it also shows the students the importance of donating, and also helps the NHS kids how to organize an event that big” said Mrs. Laskowski, when asked about the purpose of the drive and the role of NHS in the drive.

Most students decided to donate to hopefully make a difference, and even save a life with their contributions, while some do it just to miss some class time in a productive manner.

Vincent Amendolia, a junior at CHS wanted to do exactly that. “I donated to help people, and to just get out of class.”

The donation process starts with a health screening, then the students go through the donation process and then have a recovery period of 5-10 minutes, but the whole process can vary depending on the person, with Vincent’s entire process taking over 45 minutes.

The blood drive was also a good opportunity to run and manage an event of that size.

“The NHS kids advertise the event, recruit students for the event, make the schedule, set up the event, as well as support those who are donating, and those still recovering after their donations and managed the check in for the students who donated,” junior NHS member Michael Bearint continued, “There weren’t any major problems with the blood drive; (although) some people fainted, and someone had a seizure.”

During blood drives, it is a common occurrence for people to both faint and have minor seizures because of the sight of blood or other reason.

The blood drive was a good opportunity for both the people running the event, and those donating, showing both the importance of donating, as well as how to be able to run and manage such a stressful and well-attended event.