The second Mililani High School (MHS) blood drive held this year took place on March 13 at the Mililani Latter-Day Saint Church from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Similarly to the first blood drive of the school year, it was adjusted to abide by the COVID-19 guidelines. 

     “Honestly, I just get a lot of fulfillment from knowing that I’m doing something undeniably good for our community, and I’m sure many others in the committee share this same feeling as me,” said Blood Drive Co-Chairperson Senior Andrew Kim. 

     In this blood drive, the MHS Blood Drive Committee surpassed their goal of 40 pints with a total 46 pints of blood donated. As for the appointments, they did not reach their goal of 68 donors, but instead had 59 appointments and 52 donors checked in. 

     As the Blood Drive Committee members had a better idea of what to expect when planning for this drive, a lot of them felt that planning for it was easier compared to the first one. However, many of them anticipated that because the SAT was held on the same day at MHS, it was challenging to reach their appointment goal. 

     “Because the SAT test was on that same day, some of the chaperones and some of the adult donors, they had to – they canceled some of them last minute so that they could help with the SAT testing,” said MHS Blood Drive Committee Advisor Stephanie Grande-Misaki.

     Another struggle that they faced was trying to encourage members to spend more time recruiting donors. Kim believes that one of the main reasons for this was because it was slightly less promoted than the first blood drive. Before COVID-19 pandemic, the blood drive would put up posters around the school as this was the most effective method in recruiting blood donors. However this year, members were only able to promote the blood drive virtually; specifically through social media and the morning bulletin. “It was tough to be pushy towards people again to donate blood. I also felt that communicating with subcommittees is difficult virtually, as opposed to in-person where it’s possible to account for everyone’s presence at the same time,” said Kim. 

     Many blood donors also felt that the MHS Blood Drive Committee could have used different advertising methods to gain more interested blood donors. “I feel like the blood drive could have done better advertising for people outside of MHS. The only people I knew who were aware were from our school,” said junior Jack Finnegan. 

     Although COVID-19 restrictions have forced the Blood Drive Committee to modify the way they normally organize blood drives this school year, Grande-Misaki enjoyed seeing students who were interested in becoming a blood donor. “I think that it’s very satisfying even for the donors when they can successfully because you are left knowing that you just saved three people’s lives. With your donation, you saved three people or you saved a baby or maybe you saved a mother, a grandparent,” said Grande-Misaki. 

     While the Blood Drive Committee does not have another blood drive scheduled this school year, junior Kira Tobita might be planning a drive during the summer. Those with questions regarding MHS blood drives can email [email protected]. For those who are interested donating blood outside of MHS, visit www.bbd.org to find a blood drive nearby.