On March 2, Rochester High School’s Student Government (StuGo) held their spring blood drive for students ages 16 and over. Junior Catie Troy organized the event and saw it through, and she believes donating blood is a way to do a good deed without costing much.

“Blood donating is very important because it takes only about 45 minutes and you get to save three lives,” said Troy. “When you put that into perspective, it’s an amazing thing to do because there are so many people who need blood in hospitals all around Michigan and all around the country.”

The organization the blood drive went through is Michigan Blood, a non-profit community organization that distributes blood all over the state.

“Knowing that your blood is helping someone in the same state as you is a very cool feeling to have, and kids usually love donating,” said Troy. “The Michigan Blood nurses are awesome, and just having them there and knowing they can answer any question, its very calming for many of the people who come in to donate.”

StuGo organizes two blood drives a year- one in the fall and one in the spring. According to Troy, last fall’s blood drive had over 65 participants, and RHS is currently waiting on the numbers from last week’s blood drive. They estimated that about 50-55 people participated. The date for next fall’s drive has not been set yet, but there will be one.

“We like doing [blood drives] because it is a way to help people outside of our school and outside of our community,” Troy said. “Donate blood!”