By Christina Macaluso – News Editor

Jonathan Law High School hosted its annual blood drive on October 24.

Every year, Law’s Keyettes team up with the Red Cross and plan a blood drive that students and teachers can participate in.

The advisor of Keyettes, Law science teacher Mrs. Jaekle, helped the club set up the date.

“The Keyettes have been running a blood drive since I have been advisor which has been for about 12 years,” Jaekle said.

Signing up is easy for the students to do and only takes a few seconds. Before giving blood, they must meet specific requirements.

All students who participate must be at least 17 and they must meet a certain weight requirement that is based on their height.

News about the blood drive was spread around school for about a week before the drive.

“I found out about the blood drive the day before from a representative of the Red Cross who walked around during lunch,” senior Richie Dow said.

According to Jaekle, the 2013 blood drive was very successful. Forty-three students showed up to donate blood. Thirty-four pints of useable blood were collected.

The drive lasted until the end of the school day so that students had plenty of time to go down to the new gym and donate without rushing the whole process.

The Red Cross workers were very patient and kind to the students, making sure that they knew how the process was going to work.

“They were very helpful because they explained how they were going to draw the blood,” senior Jackie DelPrete said.

In order to make sure that none of the students were going to have problems with giving blood, the Red Cross workers talked to each student before following through with the blood work.

“For the kids that might have issues giving blood they asked a series of questions and drew a small amount of blood to see if they were anemic,” DelPrete said.

The Red Cross and Law’s Keyettes Club plan on continuing with their annual blood drive because of the success they have encountered each year.

(Photo courtesy Christina Macaluso)