Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
BESSEMER HIGH school student volunteers Megan Korhonen, left, Tianna Carlisle and Anna Wacker sit at the registration table for the American Red Cross Blood Drive in the school library on Thursday.
BESSEMER - As of about 10 a.m. Thursday, at least 22 individuals had made appointments to donate blood at the A.D. Johnston High School's American Red Cross Blood Drive.
"A lot more have come through for walk-ins," said student volunteer Anna Wacker.
Wacker, Tianna Carlisle and Megan Korhonen were manning the registration table and providing snacks and juice to those donating.
The goal for the drive was to reach at least 30 donations. If the goal was met, one senior student would receive a $250 scholarship.
The blood drive, organized by the A.D. Johnston Key Club, was running from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the library.
Mary Stewart, a worker for the Red Cross, said the crew had traveled from Stevens Point, Wis., to run the drive.
She said crews often come from Stevens Point, or even the Green Bay area, to hold blood drives in the far western Upper Peninsula.
A similar blood drive was held on Wednesday at the Memorial Building in Ironwood, garnering 150 donations.
January is National Blood Donor Month.
According to the Red Cross website, each year about 5.6 million blood donations are collected, which translates into more than 8 million transfusable blood products. A total of 2,700 hospitals and blood transfusion centers receive Red Cross blood products.
For more information about blood drives through the American Red Cross, visit redcross.org.
