Mobile blood drive location leads to fewer donors

By Sophia Madeb Junior Editor

This year’s Spring blood drive brought in many fewer successful blood donations compared to other years, according to official records. Organizers cited several factors in the drop-off, including inconvenient timing, the school’s construction, and space constraints.

A usual school year includes two blood drives; one in December and another in March. This year’s second blood drive was planned on Tuesday, March 28. However, there were many obstacles to securing a time and a place to make this blood drive happen. “The blood drive was canceled a couple times because of all the commotion happening in school,” said Nurse Fagye.

The usual spot for the blood drive is in the main gym. Construction made that impossible, and damage to the auxiliary gym from a burst pipe left that location unavailable as well.

“The school still wanted to have a blood drive because we think the cause is very important and because of our great relationship with the New York Blood Center,” Rabbi Galpert explained. There were many ideas for different places within the school to hold the blood drive, but each attempt was unsuccessful, leading the school to cancel the blood drive for the first time.

Ultimately, a solution was found: the New York Blood Center provided a truck specially designed as a mobile donation center, and parked it just outside school