The second annual blood drive of the school year took place on April 1.

The blood drive collects approximately 100 to 200 pints of blood per drive, but they only collected 95 units on April 1.

High school blood drives are extremely important for hospitals. About 20 percent of all blood collected through the American Red Cross comes from high school and college blood drives.

This blood drive was run by the Students Achieving Social Harmony Club, more commonly known as SASH.

They work with the Community Blood Drive to supply local hospitals with much-needed blood. “If blood is not used in four days, it is thrown out. It has to be continuously replaced,” Angi Verstraete, SASH sponsor, said.

SASH wanted to collect 133 units of blood this blood drive. In the past, about 200 people have participated.

Anyone who is at least 16 years old with a parent’s permission can try to donate. At age 17, permission is no longer needed.

In order to donate a pint of blood, a person must have be a certain weight for their height and be in good health, among other restrictions that range from where a person has traveled to pre-existing medical conditions.

People give blood for a variety of reasons. Jess Acosta, senior, said, “I do it because there are so many people that it would help.”

Verstraete said that “anyone who can donate should donate. It is an easy thing that a person can do to help their community. It takes about 20 minutes and can save lives.”

The next blood drive will be in the fall of next year.