Saturday, February 21, 2009

Marian Academy's 2nd Annual Blood Drive


On the 14th of February 2009, Marian Academy held its second annual blood drive.
It started as a pleasant Saturday where Red Cross, NBTS ( National Blood Transfusion Service), student volunteers and parent volunteers were at Marian Academy at 8:30 sharp to setup for, and what turned out to be, a very fruitful day. The first person started to donate blood just after 9 am. It was a constant flow throughout the day; very organized and minimal waiting time of about 10 minutes. Students were able to round up a staggering 125 willing blood donors though only 86 persons were able to donate.


Just after mid day we were visited by Health Minister Dr. Leslie Ramsammy who seemed very impressed by the effort of our school.

After briefly chatting with some of the donors, I realised that most of them were there for the same reason; "TO SAVE LIVES", others wanted to find out their blood type and the rest were there just because some persuasive child had convinced them to be there.

Students worked very hard on this day, some registered donors, others escorted them to the donating area and ensuring that they had something to eat and drink immediately after donating.

Ms. Dallas Ellington and Mrs. Nicky Mendes were the prime organisers of this event. They ensured that we obtained donors and food items and constantly visited the school to talk to us about this event.
Next year we hope to obtain more donors and to host another successful blood drive because the main aim of a blood drive is to save lives.


- Mariah Low