Students from MRHS participated in a blood drive sponsored by Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA), which took place on October 27th. FBLA is a club that uses competitions to foster leadership and business development. To help the community, the FBLA Club has always participated in blood drive service projects even though its primary concentration is business-related.
“This started almost 10 years ago with FBLA. This was how FBLA decided to give back to the local community,” said the director of MRHS’s FBLA, Mrs. Miller.
At MRHS, the annual blood drive also allows students to learn more about advertising and running a successful event.
All of the proceeds of the FBLA-run blood drive are donated to the Red Cross of America.
“There was a lot of collaboration with the Red Cross of America. We had to take care of both FBLA volunteers who would recruit donors during lunch, help out at the actual drive, ensure all donors met the requirements, and had parental consent,” Senior President of FBLA Erica Qin explained.
Before the drive could start, the FBLA had a great deal to prepare for the blood drive. They had to stay in contact with the Red Cross of America and assign people to volunteer at the blood drive. The members of FBLA put up informational posters around the school to spread more awareness for the blood drive and to gain as many donations as possible. After weeks of planning this annual blood drive, the plan was set.
The blood drive took place on October 26th in the Auxiliary gym. The drive went on from 7:30 am to 12:30 pm, and many volunteers were hard at work checking paperwork and preparing while the nurses from the Red Cross Foundation were getting organized to draw students’ blood donations.
“At first, I was a little hesitant about donating blood just because I was worried about how the process would be. But after I was done, it felt good knowing I was saving lives. It only took a little bit of my time, but I was helping at least three needy people,” senior Yash Santosh shared.
After the drive was done, the Red Cross Foundation and the FBLA collaborated in helping to finish up the drive and donate the blood that had been collected over the past couple of hours. They had raised over 15 pints of blood with the blood drive, which was more than last year’s drive.
Another year, another success for the FBLA’s annual blood drive. With the next upcoming blood drive in April, they hope for even more donations so they can continue to help out patients in need.