M-A’s annual blood drive unites community

Students and community members lined up to donate blood at Menlo-Atherton High School on Friday, February 13, The drive was open all day for walk-in donations from locals and donation time slots occupied by M-A students.

Run by Leadership’s Blood Drive Committee, the drive took hard work and dedication to plan. To lighten their workload, the committee outsourced help from other Leadership students who helped with recruitment and management. “This year we had every Leadership student sign up around 10 people to volunteer and give blood,” committee member and junior Avery Williams said. “Then, we email them, send them a link for sign ups, and they [choose] their time slot.”

The drive, purposely placed during Valentine’s Day week, evoked themes of care and generosity. “We have a theme of love, service, and donation, it’s a very fun environment,” Williams said.

In partnership with M-A, the Blood Drive is run through Stanford Blood Center. “We partner with them every year, and they are great communicators, they help us be successful,” Williams said. Nurse practitioners who specialize in blood donation assist students and safely collect the blood during the drive.

“We have a lot of staff because [M-A] got a lot of signups, we have two head nurses, and our various phlebotomists,“ Stanford Blood Center’s Account Manager April Walsh said. “My favorite part is just the enthusiasm that we get from the student body to help us with our mission of saving lives, everyone’s in a good mood and happy to be here,” she said.

Photo of Leadership students by Piper Rosenthal; this a condensed version of a post that appeared in the M-A Chronicle.