|
|
 |
|
It's all
Ansonia at 'Grudge Match' blood drive
ANSONIA, Ohio - The first official week of summer kicked off Monday,
June 23 with 90-degree heat baking the river of fresh blacktop flowing
down Canal Street, passed Ansonia High School. Not a day to even
think about being back in school, unless you had a score to settle with
your rival in the annual Community Blood Center (CBC) “Blood & Guts
Grudge Match Blood Drive.”
FFA teams from Ansonia High School and Mississinawa Valley High School
again competed for bragging rights in Monday’s fifth annual Grudge
Match Blood Drive, hosted this summer by Ansonia. The challenge
blood drive is a way of supporting the blood supply during the summer
months when no other high school blood drives are scheduled. The
schools alternate hosting the Grudge Match, and last year’s win by MVHS
continued the trend of the home team winning on its home court.
That history of home court advantage was not lost on Ansonia FFA
advisor and blood drive coordinator Brad Lentz, who made sure to send
out text messages to all registered Ansonia students, reminding them to
keep their appointments in the Tiger gym. “We tried to get more
out,” Brad said. “Last year for this we had kind of a down turn-out.
I’m feeling we’ll do better than last year.”
Brad’s hunch was right. The Ansonia FFA answered the challenge,
winning the 2014 Grudge Match with 38 “votes” from registered donors to
23 for the Mississinawa Valley FFA. Once again, the home team
protected its turf. The Grudge Match trophy, on display at the
blood drive, will greet Ansonia students when they return to school in
August.
Overall, 59 donors registered for the blood drive, including six
first-time donors, resulting in 45 blood donations. Brad was got
assistance with the blood drive from co-FFA advisor Jennifer Knick,
while Mississinawa Valley FFA advisor Carmen Hartzell organized the
MVHS support. Everyone enjoyed free pizza and other special
refreshments in the Donor Café.
The MVHS Blackhawks did have good reason to feel optimistic about being
able to invade Tiger territory and pull off a rare back-to-back Grudge
Match win. “We usually have a lot of kids that want to donate,” said
MVHS senior Lane Livingston, who donated in his second Grudge Match and
reaches his milestone 5th lifetime blood donation Monday. “It’s a
popular thing at our school.”
MVHS proved its support of CBC blood drives in 2012-2013 by winning a
$1,000 grant from CBC in the first year of the High School Leadership
Grant Program. MVHS was runner-up in the “Highest Percentage of
Enrollment” category. “Mississinawa Valley is one of the smallest
schools hosting CBC blood drives and has a small number of eligible
donors,” said CBC Darke County Account Representative Dana Puterbaugh.
“But they strongly supported their four blood drives in 2012-13 with
participation by 132% of enrollment.”
The Blackhawks topped off the success of 2012-13 by winning the 2013
Grudge Match, but thanks to the dedication of donors like Rusty
Hardwick, the trophy is back in Ansonia. Rusty is a 2006 Ansonia
graduate who made his second lifetime donation at Monday’s blood drive.
“I’ll tell you one thing, it’s better than my first!” he said as he
donated. “I chickened out. Right as I got here I saw the needle
and said, ‘Rusty, what are you doing?’” He said he left the blood
drive, but gathered his nerve and returned.
“They gave me my shirt before I even donated,” he said. “I got back and
said I hadn’t earned that shirt yet! I said I’m going to go through
with it. I talked myself back into it and came back and donated that
day.”
Ansonia also got alumni support from 2013 graduate William Clark.
He started donating his junior year at AHS and made his 13th lifetime
donation Monday. “I enjoy doing it,” he said. “It’s a good cause to get
behind.”
Hope Jankowski, who made her first lifetime donation at the Grudge
Match, could help bring the trophy back to Mississinawa Valley next
year. “I live in Ansonia, but I go to school at Mississinawa
Valley,” she said. “My boyfriend goes to Ansonia!” Hope will be a
junior in the fall at MVHS and she is an FFA student advisor. Her
loyalties were squarely her school as she voted her donation for the
Blackhawks.
|
|
|
|
|
|
