On November 14, The LM Blood Drive Club partnered with the American Red Cross to hold their annual drive in the Kobe Bryant Gymnasium. Students seventeen years old and up were eligible to donate a pint of blood and in return get ten dollars, a pair of socks, and some tasty snacks to help them recover. LM Blood Drive Club volunteers spent a couple of weeks beforehand using paint to make banners to hang in the upper atrium, signing people up to donate blood, and advertising throughout the school. Mai Linh Shanley ’25, a volunteer for LM Blood Drive, said, “The thought of so many lives being saved is amazing—all because of the donors and everyone’s contributions, especially the volunteers in the club that made it a great experience for everyone.”
About 130 students signed up for this year’s blood drive, but many weren’t actually able to donate blood. Blood drive permission forms were collected by the volunteers on November 8. Blood donations were given in specific time slots: the earliest appointment one could make on the day itself was 8:30; the latest, 1:30. However, the last few people who donated blood didn’t leave until 3:15. Why? Many students reported how the blood drive was backed up throughout the event. By an estimated 11:30 a.m., individuals claimed that they were already an hour or two behind, with people who had been waiting for that same amount of time for their appointment. The drive had a similar problem last year, but this year they were so behind schedule that they had to turn people away at the door who came for their appointments and send emails cancelling other people’s appointments, all while the line moved at a snail’s pace. Gloria Fuentes ’25 gives her review on giving blood and the wait time for participants, “It was a pretty pleasant experience getting my blood drawn for the first time overall. But there was a two hour delay, mind you my appointment was at 12:30 and I was recovering when the 3:15 bell rang. They definitely need to hire more staff for next year’s blood drive.”
Sandra Hoopes, retired health teacher turned LM Blood Drive Club sponsor and track coach, has been running the drives for about forty years. Even though it didn’t stop the wait time, her supervision may have helped things still run smoothly. She made sure that the patients who were scheduled with the earliest appointments were in the first stand of donations. Her reported vigilance helped especially when seats opened up for the phlebotomist, to test donors’ blood to make sure they were safe to donate. Thanks to her, the donors who had been waiting the longest could go right into the process. In terms of the evaluation, after a volunteer was asked health and safety questions, it was still about a fifteen to twenty minute wait for many for a table to open up and their blood to be drawn. Hoopes said, “I was so impressed with all the students who wanted to help their community by donating blood to those in need. We had 78 wonderful student volunteers who were there to make a first time donor’s experience a rewarding one. We were able to collect 98 pints of blood, helping 294 lives in our community. This is very heart-warming! We have such a caring and giving student body. I am so proud of them, along with our thirty staff members who gave up their time to donate. It was a joy to work with our students on this important community project.”
The goal for the American Red Cross is to get at least ninety pints of blood and they surpassed this goal during this year’s blood drive. Hoopes is a big reason they reached this goal, as she moved people in and out but still made sure that the donors were taken care of with snacks and water. Still, there was disappointment from people who were turned away at the door and got an email with their appointments being cancelled. Nyla Glispy ‘25, whose appointment was cancelled,
had this to say on how she felt about it: “I’m just angry because I was really looking forward to donating blood. They need to organize it better next time.”
All in all, the annual LM Blood Drive is a tradition here at LM. The volunteers enjoy helping out people who donate blood and advertising for the drive, while the participants feel like they have made a difference and given blood to someone who truly needs it. So while this year’s blood drive was reported to be a bit messy and confusing, it still can be counted as a great success through donations and will hopefully continue as an LM tradition.
