A gift from the heart

By Andrew Abler

aabler@conleynet.com 262-306-5076

WEST BEND – The West Bend High Schools Student Council celebrated its 2024 blood drive on Thursday.

This blood drive serves as an opportunity for students to take the initiatives and directly involve themselves with an event, bringing leadership and real-world experience into their skillsets. Students undertake tasks that help the event come to life, including creating the graphics and theme and preparing a flyer and social media graphics that appear on the T-shirts staff wear during the blood drive. Students also work on promotions, reaching out to high school athletic teams, cocurriculars and clubs. They also make connections with local businesses and ask them to promote the blood drive throughout their companies.

The drive opened at 6:30 a.m. and ran until 12:30 p.m. in the south gym of the West Bend high schools, 1305 E. Decorah Road. According to data from the Red Cross, each unit of blood has the potential to save up to three lives. The organization hosted the event with a goal to collect 300 units of blood, and while final numbers have yet to be tallied, the district expressed optimism, thanking all who came out and made this year’s event a success.

“The event could not have gone so smoothly without the amazing commitment from Versiti and the many student council volunteers who ran the event with precision,” the district said in an announcement. “Every year this event provides so much blood for blood banks in the area. Thank you again to all the students, staff, and others from the community who donated.”

Photos courtesy of West Bend School District