Donations are things that happen everywhere. It could be from school fundraisers, church donations, rounding up your purchase at a store, or putting money into charity foundations. A specific thing you can donate, and one important for many, is blood.

Blood drives are a recurring event hosted by Prairies members of the Health Occupations Students of America, or HOSA club for short. It is meant for people 16 and older. It is an opportunity students can sign up for, and if they meet the requirements, can donate blood. This blood is used to support those needing it, sometimes saving up to 3 lives, or 6 babies, with just one donation. It is an honorable event hosted by prairie that gives to the community.

These drives take planning and preparation. “We do a lot of meetings after school,” Sophomore Hailee Natiola, an important member of HOSA, who checks in signed up donors to ensure they fit donation requirements and permission. “And we talk about cabinet and actual members.”

Blood drives work pretty smoothly. It starts off with asking around for donations, through social media, announcements, lunches, and other ways, and getting willing and available donors. It then gets members from around HOSA to run it, whether it be to check IDS or advertise.

Blood drives can be a lot of work for the members and volunteers. “For me, as a teacher, it’s multiple hours of community service, right?” Melissa Levine, Manager of HOSA and Health teacher at prairie said in regards to what it’s like managing blood drives. “Because of running the drives, they do take about 20 hours to plan. Mind you, we take two months to do that, but it is a lot of extra work.”

Blood drives are used to spread awareness, donate to those in need, and bring an opportunity to HOSA members and students to give to the local community. Although it requires work, preparation, planning, and lots of time, it is worth it to many who volunteer and work for the blood drives to help impact our area in a better way.