Students, staff and strangers trickled in and out of craft theater on Thursday, April 20, to donate blood. Student volunteers manned the check-in table on the second floor.

“The students were excited to be helping out with the cause,” said Morraina Tuzinsky, CHS freshman and Thomas forum member. “I think Community does a lot for the community, and blood drives are cool because there’s low blood in America right now, so this helps out.”

Community started the tradition of hosting the blood drives about 5-6 years ago. Chelsea Cendrowski, former CHS student, started the blood drives because she thought it would be a great way to try to give back. “I knew I wanted to be a nurse and started volunteering at the Red Cross when I was in high school,” Cendrowski said. “That’s how I found out about how you could host a blood drive. It was actually pretty easy just because I had already volunteered at the Red Cross, so I knew the guy who helped me set it up.”

“It’s really exciting to see that you guys are still doing it,” Cendrowski said. “I love seeing it.”

The Blood Drive is traditionally run by the Strassel forum, but this year it was a joint effort between the Strassel and Thomas forums. The forums teamed up to coordinate the effort and set goals for the drive; they reached their goal of 30 pints and filled almost every available donation slot.