Lincoln Southwest High School is hosting a blood drive this upcoming Tuesday, Nov. 6. from 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Students wishing to donate blood can make an appointment with Mr. Watt to sign up for a specific time.

In addition to helping make a difference, all eligible donors will receive a free t-shirt to commemorate their contribution. Each donation made by a student will help raise scholarship funds for Southwest high school students.

“Giving blood is an extremely important thing to do,” senior Ahren Schneider said. “It can help a lot of people, and save many lives.”

According to the Red Cross Organization, a single blood donation can save up to three lives. Compounding on this, every two seconds someone in the United States needs blood. Blood drives give students a chance to aid people in and outside of their community, by helping those in need.

“I have not donated blood before, but I have definitely thought about it,” senior Brock Towle said. “I think it’s very good to be doing blood drives in high school, because it teaches people to learn how to help other people in their community, save lives and to help recovery efforts like with the recent hurricanes over in North Carolina.”

Mr. Mark Watt, a physical education teacher and department chair at Lincoln Southwest, is in charge of setting up appointments for the upcoming blood drive.

“There are recruiters from the NHS and HOSA club and they go around and recruit people, and they can always email Ms. Vargas or me or find us.” Watt said. “They give us seventy-seven slots and most of the time we fill up most of them, but this time they picked a Tuesday so we’re having a hard time filling up the last couple slots. I think we already have sixty some kids signed up already though.”

It’s not too late to contribute to this worthwhile cause, and help others throughout the community. Students wishing to donate blood can head to the wrestling room this Tuesday, or contact Mr. Watt to sign up for a specific time.