Clover Hill’s new chapter of the Red Cross Club organized their annual blood drive alongside a plethora of other events for charities in our community. 

The newest chapter of Red Cross, officially established and hosted by Nurse Katherine White two years ago, held their yearly blood drive on Friday, March 6. 

“March 6 is our Spring blood drive, and we need people 16 or older to donate. If people want to volunteer, we also need volunteers throughout the day to make things run smoothly,” White said. “For any blood donation, one unit of blood can save three lives.”

As a whole, the Red Cross is an international philanthropic organization aimed to help those in need. 

“The Red Cross is a humanitarian club that assists people in times of need. Usually after major disasters they work directly with the military to ensure that the troops are taken care of and have access to transportation and help the people get whatever they need,” White said. 

They head various activities within and outside of Clover Hill. Our chapter of the Red Cross alone participates with in school health education, out of school philanthropies, out of school charities, and of course, both yearly blood drives.

“The main thing we do is we organize two blood draws a year,” White said. “We also do an educational opportunity for the club members. Then we do some sort of fundraising, the Red Cross has specific philanthropies that they work with.”

Alongside just the upcoming blood drive, the Red Cross is preparing other charity events and health education opportunities for students in March and April.

“On Mar. 17, we’re having a representative from the Red Cross, the local Richmond Red Cross, come to do a presentation on emergency preparedness,” White said. “Last year we collected Easter candy after Easter, then we donated it to the Veterans Hospital so that they could share with the hospitalized. We’re planning on doing the same thing this year in April.”

Nurse White had requested volunteers for the blood drive, people to donate if over 16 and meeting blood requirements, and volunteers to help run the blood drive if anyone is unable to donate themselves. Student volunteers, such as freshman Atticus Nelson and freshman Charles Agada, selected a block to leave class and help for a variety of reasons.

Agada specifically chose to participate for the technical attributes of it, wanting to learn how the process for blood donations worked. He chose to work as the registrar for the people donating. 

“I wanted to be able to participate in hospital events. I wanted to know how blood donating works, or to know something relevant to the real world. I want it to give me a firsthand experience of it all,” Agada said.

Nelson chose to volunteer for a more grandiose reason, signing up for the sake of his own morals due to being too young to donate.

“For the sake of the world, you know? It means a pretty good amount being able to help blood donors ’cause they’re saving a lot of people,” Nelson said. “Just important to me as a person.”

Overall, Nurse White, alongside the Red Cross, brings a hopeful, charitable vision for the future of our community with their up-in-coming plans. Even though the blood drive has passed, anyone can visit redcross.org to find a donation place near them.

“Our goal is to get as many people as possible to come out and donate blood or, you know, help them be a part of it. The best part is you get to miss a little class,” White said.