Every year, the National Honors Society at Piscataway holds a Blood Drive for PHS students. Anyone above the age of 16 years old is able to donate blood, and save a life!
The blood drive is not an easy event to hold, as there are many tasks to get done. Mrs. Cregar-Porch, the advisor for Piscataway’s NHS, says that the first step when organizing the blood drive is to “get a committee and a chair person who organizes most of [the blood drive]. Certain kids do fundraising and sign ups, other kids are more of the logistics of putting signs up.”
Without students to give blood, there would be no blood drive! This year’s chairperson, senior Wallace Lau, focused on flyers and promoting on social media. He also asked for NHS volunteers for multiple roles. He explains that, “each volunteer can either have a canteen, escorted, or computer role. Canteen people are responsible for distributing food and water to blood donors. Escort people guide blood donors to the nurses. The computer people help people check in the donors.” This year’s blood drive had around 45 NHS volunteers, all to make sure the event went smoothly.
Gracy Grover, senior at PHS, described her experience donating, saying that she “donated blood because there are many people who through heartbreaking conditions that may require surgery or loss of blood, and since I have enough to give and still be okay, I wanted to give as much as I could to help someone” Many people agreed with her, as there were 80+ students and teachers who donated this year! This is the most that has been donated in a while, and both Mrs. Cregar-Porch and NHS members hope that it continues in this pattern.
Fear and pain are two of the biggest factors and hesitations students and teachers have when donating blood. Mrs. Cregar Porch states that her favorite part of the blood drive is “letting the kids see it’s not scary. So many people are scared of the blood drive so it’s nice when they see it’s not this scary event!” Gracy agrees when she says that the “process was fairly easy” and that she would “100% donate again! I know that the blood is helping someone out and that truly is the greatest gift you can give someone.”
The winter blood drive was a great success, but the NHS doesn’t plan to stop there! There are usually 2 blood drives per year, in collaboration with the New York Blood Center, but Mrs. Cregar-Porch wishes to “expand it, to perhaps offer some in the summer months for the community. We’re looking at doing one in the summer where they usually need a lot of blood and hosting it here trying to get the students to bring their families in.” If you are looking for a way to get your family involved in their community, this would be an incredible opportunity! Look out for more information soon!
