Students, parents, and teachers alike entered Community High School’s all black Craft Theatre on Thursday, April 19 to donate blood. Thomas Forum volunteers sat at the check in table, helping the process run smoothly.

The Strassel Forum (now Kilgore Forum) has had the responsibility of hosting blood drives at CHS for 5-6 years, but last year, the Thomas Forum joined forces with them. Anne Thomas, the leader of the Thomas forum, invites the Red Cross to the school to talk to her forum about the process of donating blood; it is then up to the forum to get the word out to the rest of the school. The Red Cross then is invited to Community for the whole day to draw blood.

“Our Forum is big on charity,” Bree Linton said. “We’ve made the most money for Food Gatherers this past year. We made seven thousand dollars. In the other years, we’ve made around three thousand dollars. We’ve helped with Alpha House, Light the Night, and the Red Cross.”

One pint, a normal donation amount of blood, can save up to three lives. Less than 38% of the population is eligible to donate, so volunteers are very important, especially since blood and platelets cannot be manufactured. Blood donors can give every 56 days, while platelet donors can give every seven days.

Because of the small population of eligible donors, giving blood when you can is really important. The Community High School blood drive provides donors with a place with a central location to donate.

There are a lot of different reasons that people give blood. Some people want to support people who they have lost. People also give blood due to something that happened with themselves. There are a lot of people who feel it is their responsibility to give blood because they are eligible.

Even if you are not able to give blood, there are other ways to help out. Check out The Red Cross website for volunteer opportunities. If you can’t save a life with blood, you can help with your time.