Senior Marika Iyer donates a unit of blood Thursday, May 15, as part of Student Council's annual blood drive in conjunction with Community Blood Services of Illinois. Sophomore Alexx Engles looks on. By the end of the drive at 12:30 p.m., donors had given 17 units of blood. Many more students wanted to participate but could not because of various restrictions, such as low iron or having traveled within the past year to countries on the restricted list. Still, the outcome was good. Although the number of units was down from last year's 24, the total still exceeded the 14 units donated two years ago. One difference from the past several years was that the drive took place inside Uni Gym instead of in the Community Blood Services bus. The drive began at 8 a.m., and the entire donating process (including paperwork and recovery) took about 45 minutes per person, with the actual donation requiring only five to 10 minutes. CBSI conducts about 300 mobile blood drives each year throughout the East Central Illinois region. The organization also has blood donor centers in Urbana (1408 W. University Ave.), Danville, and Mattoon. For more information about CBSI, click here. By the way, if you're curious about the markings under Marika's eyes, members of the girls soccer team wore eye black to school before traveling to Williamsville for a Class A sectional semifinal game. (The girls lost 3-0.)
first
previous
