Students, community give blood to save lives

by Justin Fish

Pittsford Area Schools hosted a blood drive on (insert date), and it’s open to anybody who wanted to donate. Though it wasn’t as successful as years past, the giving spirit of PHS and Pittsford was still prevalent.

Every year there is a number of students and adults that come to the event to give blood. “The goal ahead of time was forty units of blood. We had a total of 28 people come and give blood but, they only took 23 people because, either the person is anemic, on medications, or has a low supply of iron in their blood,” commented Mrs. Ervans. “This year was low compared to the past. I think part of it was the blood drive ended at 3:45 p.m., so the people from work weren’t able to get here;” explained Mrs. Ervans. “We didn’t have as many students this year, either.”

One benefit of going to the blood drive is that they give you food. “They gave me orange juice, cookies, and a peanut butter sandwich,” said senior Justin Renigar. “I felt good saving three lives,” he added. The pain tolerance for some bothers them and for some it doesn’t. “The finger prick (to test the iron in the blood) hurt worse than the actual blood donation,” commented senior Gene Stockford.