The Cypress High School Red Cross Club partnered with the American Red Cross to bring the annual blood drive to Cypress High School on March 6, 2025, for students 16 years old or older, or to outside people like parents to donate blood to people in need. Senior Aarnav Ghosh said, “I decided to give blood because I knew other people doing it, and I decided that I was also interested in doing it.”
The Cypress High and American Red Cross set up the blood drive in the media center at Cypress High School with food and snacks for donors. Red Cross workers set up all of the medical equipment, while taking vitals and then a pint of the donor’s blood. The process takes around 15 minutes and the donors get gift cards, donuts, t-shirts, pizza, extra credit, and volunteer hours as a reward.
Another option people could choose is a Power Red donation. It is a longer process that takes over an hour because it separates your red blood cells from your plasma and platelets, then returns the leftover plasma and platelets back to you. It is beneficial to do this because it allows you to give almost twice the amount of red blood cells than the normal donation.
The American Red Cross has over 200 locations across America where they give you the chance to volunteer in their shelters, Disaster Action Team (DAT), and disaster health services. You can also participate in services including child care training and water safety training.
The blood drive happened from 9:30 AM to 3:30 PM on March 6, 2025 and if you didn’t get to participate, you can sign up to donate on the American Red Cross website. The information to volunteer and donate blood is on redcrossblood.org
