Ashley Lappe @frappelappe [Ads Editor]

Each year Marion High School hosts a blood drive to give students the opportunity to donate whole blood or platelets. It’s for a great cause, and many people participate in the event. For those students who choose not to participate, it is often due to a fear of needles or blood; sometimes both. For the students who don’t mind seeing the bags of red liquid and the large needle entering their arms, it is a great chance to get out of a class and help out a sick person in need of blood.

Bobby Vanderlin, junior, started doing the blood drive last year as a sophomore. Although he may not be nervous this year, he was last year. “Someone passed out right before I was about to give blood,” he said. After how smoothly things went last year, he is sure there will be nothing to worry about.

Everyone participates in the drive for different reasons, some want to help by donating their blood, others want to get out of class, and then there are the few people who do it to get a free snack and drink. For Vanderlin it was for two reasons. “It’s for a good cause and I get out of class,” he stated. No matter what a person’s reasons may be for participating in the Marion blood drive, it is a great way to help out a person in need in our community.