Our Lady of Good Counsel School (OLGC) student Campbell Brown organized and held a blood drive as a service project for the OLGC Chapter of the National Junior Honor Society on July 25.
“My dad usually gives blood normally, so when I was looking for a service project, he kind of told me how there’s a shortage of blood, so that inspired me to want to do a blood drive…I really wanted my service project to have a big help in our community,” Brown said.
Brown’s mother, Amanda, shared how she worked with the American Red Cross and the OLGC Parish to set everything up.
“She went to her advisors – both of her teachers are the advisors for National Junior Honor Society – once they thought it was a great idea, she went to school administration, and then it was really going to the Parish because we needed permission to use the school,” Amanda said. “So we were able to use the school cafeteria and the Parish was wonderful to work with…the American Red Cross called me right away and we booked it.” They found an opening, they told us what the requirements were and (they) were very easy to work with.”
Brown took time to describe the event, starting with a large group of people lined up to give blood. According to her, some people had to leave in order to get to work on time because the lines were so long. She also mentioned many patron’s favorite part of donating: snacks.
“Once they were done with their snacks, they could then get a snack for the road,” said Brown.
After collecting 27 pints of blood, she explained what she hopes her service project inspires others to do.
“I want to inspire other people by showing just because you’re scared of getting into something or you think you’re not capable of doing something, you can always try…you can’t put your head down, you always just get up and keep trying for more,” she said. “I want to inspire people to never stop trying.”
