DAYTON, Ohio – A lifetime of giving often begins early. That’s why the Solvita Blood Center High School Blood Drive Program is so essential to encouraging the young blood donors of tomorrow.
The new year of high school blood drives is successfully underway, and so is the “Giving Starts with You!” blood drive campaign in more than 100 high schools across Solvita’s 18-county region.
Monroe Central High School hosted the first blood drive on Sept. 6. By the end of September 30 high schools had held blood drives, totaling 1,069 donors, including 847 donations and 506 first time donors.
Solvita’s “Giving Starts with You!” high school blood drive campaign features three special t-shirts that all take an Austin Powers time traveling trip back to the ‘60’s with flower-power colors and vibes.
The September-November blood drive t-shirt features the campaign theme “Giving Starts with You!” in green and orange with a peace sign. The December-January-February shirt is red, orange, and blue with the “Spread Good Vibes” message, and the March-April-May t-shirt is beige and silver with the “Do Good – Feel Good” message and a smiley face.
“Our commitment at Solvita is to help more patients in need see more tomorrows,” said Solvita Vice President for Donor Services Tracy Morgan. “When students embrace giving at such a young age, it is inspiring. They represents such a bright hope for the future.”
“Something I’m really big on is helping people,” said senior Samantha Willis at the Butler Tech Natural Science Center Sept. 28 blood drive.
In the 2022-2023 school year, Solvita’s 104 high schools hosted 249 blood drives totaling 11,857 donors, including 9,365 donations and 5,102 first time donors. The total number of high school donors increased 10% over 2021-2022, which was the first bounce-back year after the pandemic.
Wayne High School begins this school year as the reigning champion of Solvita high school blood drives. Wayne’s three blood drives in 2022-2023 totaled 403 donors, edging the Miami Valley Career Technology Center by 21 donors.
MVCTS hosted two blood drives totaling 382 donors. Kettering Fairmont High ranked third with two blood drives totaling 349 donors. Fairfield High added a third blood drive to support a classmate with leukemia and finished fourth with 335 donors. Centerville High hosted two blood drives with 248 donors to complete the top five.
The Solvita Red Cord program honors high school seniors who have registered to donate three or more times during their high school years. The program was expanded in the 2022-2023 school year to include a drawing among all Red Cord recipients to win $1,000 awards.
This academic year the Red Cord Program will offer seven awards to seven randomly selected Red Cord seniors. The number of entries per senior is based on how many times they have registered to donate during their high school years, with a limit of six entries per year.
Red Cord honorees may also qualify to earn a high school diploma seal for community service or student engagement.