What is the Red Cross Club?
This Coronado High School club is in association with the Red Cross and is an official part of the organization. The club’s co-founders are current CHS juniors Kenzie Uyesugi and Kody Chapman. Kenzie, Vice President, shares that the “CHS American Red Cross Club works with the [official Red Cross] association to bring community service, blood donation services, and natural disaster relief to Coronado.” The club hosts a wide range of events ranging from CPR certification to sending letters to the troops.
Blood Drive Held on January 17
A recent blood drive on Tuesday, January 17 was the club’s biggest and main event this school year. The club had many reasons on why they chose this specific event. First, the club wanted to aid in bringing blood services to the people of Coronado. Second, Kody has a deeper connection with blood donations. He commented, “Weekly I go volunteer at blood drives in Kearny Mesa. [So] I can see how needed blood is right now due to shortages across the country. A combination of those two factors motivated me to do this at the school!”
The event took place in the Coronado High gym on Tuesday from 8:30 am to 2:30 pm.
After the event had concluded the Red Cross Club saw that they surpassed their donation goal of 40 pints as 41 pints of blood were donated. They’d had about 55 five appointments.
The club hopes to host the blood drive annually, maybe earlier in the school year around October or November. A result of having it annually is that more CHS students and members of the Coronado community could participate.
If you are asking yourself, “why should I donate blood?”, then listen to what the club officers have to say. “I believe people should give blood because it is critical to life and everyone has it. So many people need blood for different things and you could help save a life by simply donating,” says Kody. In addition to Kody’s statement, Kenzie said, “People should give blood because every two seconds a person is in need of blood and it’s an easy way to give back to the community.” It makes you feel good knowing you’ve helped others, so donating blood is truly a win-win for all parties involved.
