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Medfield’s Blake Middle School Thanks Donors Following 10th Annual Blood Drive Held in Honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Superintendent Jeffrey J. Marsden and Principal Nat Vaughn are pleased to share the success of Blake Middle School’s 10th annual blood drive.
Seventh-grader Mac McKinnon (left) and sixth-grader Alexander Frank, members of the Blood Drive Committee, assisted at the refreshment and recovery area. Fresh-baked goods and thank you cards were also available at the table. (Photo courtesy Medfield Public Schools)
Sixth-graders Selena Urena-Gonzalez (left), Shelby Jones (center) and Cecilia Mendonca, members of the Blood Drive Committee, assisted at the registration table. (Photo courtesy Medfield Public Schools)
Eighth-grader Joseph Callender (front left), sixth-grader Tyler Frank (back left), eighth-grader Adrian Chin (back right) and eighth-grader Joe Konopka (front right), members of the Blood Drive Committee, assisted in the childcare area. Students watched 10 kids so that their parents could donate blood. (Photo courtesy Medfield Public Schools)
From left: eighth-grader Riley Davidson, Medfield High School junior Nora Smith and eighth-grader Yashica Mishra, members of the Blood Drive Committee, worked at the checkout table. Many high school students, including Nora, help the Blood Drive Committee by mentoring the middle school students. (Photo courtesy Medfield Public Schools)
From left: sixth-graders Anna Cawley, Averi Urquhart and Alexa Dagata, members of the Blood Drive Committee, assisted at the refreshment and recovery area. Fresh-baked goods were also available to donors at the table. (Photo courtesy Medfield Public Schools)
Sixth-grader Rori Disinger prepared flyers to be handed out to students as part of the donor recruitment process in the months before the blood drive. (Photo courtesy Medfield Public Schools)
Seventh-grader Brooke Bender (back left) and sixth-grader Alexander Frank (back right) passed out flyers to students as part of the donor recruitment process in the months before the blood drive. (Photo courtesy Medfield Public Schools)

MEDFIELD — Superintendent Jeffrey J. Marsden and Principal Nat Vaughn are pleased to share the success of Blake Middle School’s 10th annual blood drive.

The blood drive is held each year on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in conjunction with the school’s “Day of Service” events. It is coordinated by a Blood Drive Committee comprised of Blake students and high school alumni and overseen by social studies teacher Cynthia McClelland.

This year, the Blake Middle School blood drive collected 94 units of blood, saving nearly 300 lives.

“On behalf of our Blood Drive Committee members, I am so grateful to the Medfield community and everyone who donated at this year’s drive,” McClelland said. “We were excited to celebrate our 10th anniversary and hoped to make this our biggest blood drive to date, which we were able to do with the community’s support. We will continue to work with the Red Cross to make this drive better and better each year.”

This year, the Blood Drive Committee included 20 middle school students and eight high school students who met weekly from October to January to plan for the event. Leading up to the blood drive, the committee helped recruit donors by making signs, posters and presentations that encouraged fellow eligible students to sign up and talk to their family members about donating. Committee members also followed up on appointments to ensure donors knew they had a spot in the day’s donation schedule.

At the event, student committee members helped set up a childcare center, brought in baked goods for the refreshment and recovery area, and made thank-you cards for donors. Student volunteers were also trained on how to sign in and keep track of incoming donors.

“Congratulations to our Blake Blood Drive Committee on their efforts to prepare for this event,” Principal Vaughn said. “Our students are proud to be part of such an important day and we applaud their desire to help their community. I would also like to recognize Cynthia McClelland for everything she does to support our students and make the blood drive successful each year.”

January is National Blood Donor Month. Earlier in January, the American Red Cross stated: “Over the last 20 years, the number of people donating blood through the Red Cross has fallen by about 40%. When fewer people donate blood, even small disruptions to blood donations – such as the nearly 7,000-unit shortfall in blood donations the Red Cross experienced between Christmas and New Year’s Day alone – can have a huge impact on the availability of blood products and dramatic consequences for those in need of emergency blood transfusion.”

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