When it comes to giving blood, Wildcats step to the plate

Columbia Falls students are giving back to their community and helping to save lives.

According to American Red Cross Donor Recruitment Manager Sandy Carlson, Columbia Falls High School is one of the top schools in the area when it comes to annual student blood donations. Each year, Columbia Falls High School hosts two blood drives with an average of 36 students donating a total of 33 pints of blood per drive over the past five years.

Shelly Gress, who helps organize the blood drives as the Columbia Falls High School Student Council Advisor, says there is always a full schedule for the events, including a few where there has been a waiting list to give blood.

“Students are limited in the ways that they can give back and help save lives at their age. This is one way that they can really make a difference,” she said.

According to Carlson, a little blood can go a long way as blood donations can be separated into their three components: blood cells, plasma and platelets. One pint of blood can potentially save three lives.

“When you are looking at over 240 pints of blood over five years, that’s more than 700 lives that have been impacted by the Columbia Falls High School blood drives,” she said, “That is huge.”

According to Carlson, most area high schools host blood drives twice a year (with the exception of Glacier High School, which hosts one), but Columbia Falls High School is always one of the top donors. In total, area schools collect between 325 and 450 pints of blood per month for the American Red Cross.

“To have those kids give back to their communities and help save lives, to me it is worth what little disruption it may cause twice a year,” Carlson said.

Columbia Falls High School typically holds its blood drives on the first Tuesday in November and March each school year, but this year’s spring drive has been pushed up to February due to a scheduling conflict with the Red Cross.

According to Gress, the support from local businesses has been great. For each drive, the school typically receives food donations from Laurie’s Deli, The Back Room, Tien’s Place and Vaqueros. Super 1 Foods also usually helps with a donation towards the purchase of juice and breakfast items.

Carlson, who has been running blood drives for 17 years, says it’s not just the Columbia Falls High School that is known for its generous donations, the community of Columbia Falls has also been a great source of donations over the years. When the aluminum plant was open, Carlson says Columbia Falls would see as many as 50-70 donors every other month at the Rotary Club sponsored drives, but those numbers have dropped a bit over the past few years.

With a new program called “Leaders Save Lives,” Carlson is hoping that area students can step up to help collect even more blood donations while potentially earning themselves a college scholarship. The program allows students to schedule blood drives during times when school is not in session with a goal of collecting at least 25 pints of blood. If that goal is reached, the student is then entered in a drawing for a $1,000 scholarship from the American Red Cross.

“When school is not in session, we tend to lose those student blood donors we get during the school year,” Carlson said. “With the Leaders Save Lives program, we give them a chance to keep donating all year long.”

Students interested in participating in the Leaders Save Lives program can call Carlson at 406-253-8516.