On Oct. 31. there will be a blood drive with the American Red Cross from 9:00 a.m-3:00 p.m. The blood drive will be held at the New Horizon Presbyterian Church located at 30 Valley View Drive in Council Bluffs. Due to Covid-19, the Red Cross is in major need of blood.

Regan Gant, a junior here at TJ, is the host for this blood drive.

“I hosted one two summers ago and it didn’t go as well but I was new to it,” said Grant. “I hosted one this last summer also because the spring blood drive through the school got canceled and so it was the perfect opportunity to host another one,” she added.

“I know that it’s for a good cause and that it benefits the Red Cross a lot because it can be hard for them to recruit donors whereas me I know a lot of the school and I can reach out to the kids to get. . .more donors.”

You can set up an appointment by clicking this link. Walk-ins are also welcome.

In order to donate blood, you must be 16 and have your parent’s permission. This link will take you to the form for your parents to sign. The form will need to be printed.

If you are 17 or older, you do not need your parent’s permission however you must bring an ID with you.

“I do like to help people,” said Grant. “When it started I was actually helping with the school blood drive and the student council always helps out with that, and I’m in student council and they’re saying that the high school blood drive just becomes less and less successful every year and so they wanted to encourage high schoolers to host their own to try and get more donors.”

There will also be a drawing for a $1,000 gift card for those 18 and older. Donors who are 16-24 will enter a giveaway for a $10 gift card.

“Because a lot of high school blood drives are getting canceled, they’re missing out on a lot of blood across the country so this is like an incentive because some people are like, what’s in it for me?”

If you are feeling generous and would like to give blood, it would be a great help for the Red Cross. Please donate if you are able to; however, if you aren’t able to donate please reach out to those who are and see if they’d want to donate blood.