RHS students honored for blood drive work, success

Russellville High School Students who are part of the school’s National Honor Society and helped with the organization’s blood drive in January were recognized for their efforts last week by officials with the American Red Cross.
The ACS held a luncheon for the seniors and juniors who recruited at least one donor to participate in the successful blood drive that was held Jan. 30 at the RHS gym.
According to Mark Beddingfield, chief executive officer of the Alabama and Central Gulf Coast Blood Services region, the RHS blood drive saw 436 donors and collected 356 productive units making it the number one high school blood drive in the entire Alabama and Central Gulf Coast region.
“This is a great accomplishment and something you should be very proud of,” Beddingfield told students at the luncheon.
“It’s not an easy thing to do to collect that many productive units.”
The RHS blood drive was also the 7th place high school blood drive in the ACS Southeast division of the U.S. and 17th overall in the entire country.
Beddingfield said with that many units of blood collected, the RHS blood drive would be able to touch 1,000 patients in need.
“It’s just amazing that a school this size would be able to have such a successful blood drive in this community,” Beddingfield said.
“We actually use Russellville High School as an example for other high schools on how to get their own blood drives to grow.”
The RHS National Honor Society blood drive was first implemented in January of 1999 by teacher and NHS sponsor Jeanie Hester as a way for the students to participate in a community service project.
The blood drive started out with a mere 33 pints of blood collected that first year and has steadily grown over the years to become the successful blood drive it is today.
“We appreciate the American Red Cross for taking the time to recognize the students for the outstanding job they did on this year’s blood drive,” NHS co-sponsor Deedra Moore said.
“They worked very hard and we are proud of the accomplishment of being the number one high school blood drive in our region.”
In addition to passing out certificates to all the students, Teresa Bush, ACS donor recruitment representative for the area, also announced a special scholarship opportunity the ACS was providing just for graduating seniors at RHS.
“We just want to say thank you for your participating and for getting all these donors here,” Bush said. “We can’t thank you enough for all your hard work.”