Dozens of students anxiously gathered outside of the Auditorium Lobby on Wednesday Sept. 27, to donate their piece of hope to children and adults alike who don’t have enough.

But what makes the Blood Drive so unique here at Timpview versus other places? And why, other than getting out of class early, do students participate?

“I’ve always really wanted to donate,” senior Allison Cook said. “It gives you an opportunity to serve someone else who has a great need and can’t make blood. There’s such a great need for it and I just want to be able to help people.”

It’s people like Cook who make drives like these so successful. But not everybody has the desire to donate, in fact a lot of people can’t. Today, fewer than four out of ten people are eligible to give blood. One in ten actually donate.

“I wish I could donate, but I travel too much, and I’ve been in a lot of Countries with pretty severe diseases within the last six months, which causes too

much of a risk,” said a junior at Timpview who continued to wait with her peers as they got ready to give blood, even if she couldn’t. “I still think it’s a super cool thing, and it benefits a lot of people.”

Benefiting people is only an understatement when it comes to the good your blood can do. In fact, three teaspoons of blood is enough to save a baby’s life. And if 20 people donate, their blood can save a burn victim.

“We like going to the High Schools,” said Kamee Hart, one of the ladies who runs the drive. “It’s easier to get blood because you guys are willing to donate. More than the adults, because you guys are actually excited.”

That’s saying something coming from a program who covers the whole Wasatch Front.

“AREP supplies blood for four hospitals in Utah. All of our blood goes to Primary Children’s, Shriners Childrens Hospital, University of Utah Hospital and the Huntsman Cancer Hospital,” Hart said. “They get their blood only from us.”

It’s okay to be worried to give your blood, most people who donated were, but it helps out a community full of people just like you. People whose lives rest on getting blood from you. We are literally saving the world one “drop at a time.” And in the case

of a blood drive it’s okay to be caught “red handed.”