At Chapin High School on March 10th 2025, the American Red Cross arrived in the morning.
They brought a truck which held four available seats for the volunteers to donate blood. They had over 100 volunteers to give blood. The process to sign up for becoming a volunteer was to sign in and to give age, weight, and height.
There were enthusiastic volunteers who were gladly able to provide their service. One Chapin High junior Benny Derrick stated, “I’m here to help, I also wanted to do this last time I was deferred.”
Another junior Tyler Moran, said “The blood giving was not that bad, but I did it because I believed that I could help a lot of people and I believe that donating blood is one of the best ways I can do that.”
A handful of others volunteered to gain the service hours for specific academic clubs. Another Chapin High junior Cameron Danley said, “I’m trying to help people and save lives, honestly I would wait an entire day or even more if I could give blood.”
The experience inside was slower than some students were expecting. Cameron Danley said, “When drawing the blood, it took about thirty to forty minutes but when the machine started beeping saying that it was full I waited about another hour and realized that none of the workers were open to get to me during that time.”
The Red Cross had planned to have appointments, however, they ended up having too many people coming to give blood, so they accepted the students who came to the truck. This slightly caused issues with wait times having some people wait hours.
The Red Cross managed to work in the last few people, however, the blood drive ended up closing early around 1:30 p.m.
