The annual St. Dominic blood drive, put together by Student Council, recently took place on Thursday, February 16, if you didn’t hear or see the commotion. The event brought in huge crowds of eager student and faculty donors and was a major success.

Mercy Hospital in St. Louis has been coming to St. Dominic for the past four years, asking anyone eligible to donate their blood for those that are in need. Last year, our school donated 71 units of blood from 98 participants with over 30 student volunteers helping the event run smoothly. With the recent school flu “epidemic,” it seems this year we unfortunately had fewer donors. As a school, we were still able to get 63 units of blood from 82 participants, coming pretty close to last year’s numbers.

Employees working for Mercy West make the journey out to St. Dominic to run the blood drive. The employees love this event and are always pleased to see so many students donating a pint of their blood for a good cause.

“My favorite thing about these blood drives is that I get to know the donors, their interests, and I feel like I am helping them as far as being a tech. They ask questions and you educate them. You’re all teenagers; you’re all so young and want to give at that age and that’s awesome,” said Mercy tech Peggy Martin.

I was one of those 82 people that gave blood at this year’s event. The experience was not as frightening as some might tell you. All the people there were friendly, the process was smooth and I got to eat a donut, pretzels and a bagel. They even had Madagascar playing on a TV while we waited.

“This is my third year giving blood at St. Dominic, and I have loved doing it each year. The people who are in charge of it are always so kind and do a really good job,” said senior Megan Ray.

A special thank you to all of the volunteers who generously donated at the blood drive. If you did not get the opportunity to give blood this time around, consider contacting a local hospital or blood donation center.