Blood is a precious gift that someone could give, and on Jan. 20 MCCC hosted a Red Cross Blood drive.
Fifty-two students and faculty gave blood that afternoon, amounting to 6.5 gallons of blood given. That much blood could save up to 150 people. And with the Red Cross’ help, the blood will get to the right people.
Donating blood can be a scary thing to do but some students felt the need to give no matter what.
Tyler McCormick has donated blood four times over his life; once at high school and three more times at MCCC.
“I feel really good about giving my blood to people who need it,” said McCormick.
Another student who gave blood was Candince Sallioltte. She has donated blood six times in her life.
“It’s because I know people who are suffering,” said Sallioltte.
Even though she has given blood six times, she said she still gets nervous each donation.One student gives blood because of vampires. Desirae Poupard-Turrill started donating blood because of her fascination with vampires, but eventually that reason turned into helping people.
Poupard-Turrill has been nervous donating blood since her first time, but she gives herself a deadline. She has to give blood before her next class, otherwise she’ll be late.
“I was nervous, but I wanted to get to class,” said Poupard-Turill.
That ultimatum just helped save three lives.
Even though the blood drive was about people giving blood, the student council had volunteers to help with the paper work. Travis Durkin, co-historian for the student government, wanted to give blood this year but couldn’t.
“I’ve given blood in the past, but can’t this year because of my tattoo. I have to wait a year,” said Durkin.
Donating blood does have a few rules though. A person cannot donate if they have gotten a tattoo or piercing in the past year or have been using blood thinners.
Although Durkin could not give blood he still donated his time and effort to the cause. He was at the blood drive for five hours. He was the person who watched the recovery cantina, handed out the safety booklets and gave water bottles to people who needed them.
The next Red Cross blood drive at MCCC will happen on March 17 2011.
