PHS held the blood drive on Nov. 28 to provide students with an easy way of donating blood to those who need transfusions. There will also be another blood drive again in the spring, though the date has not yet been set.

Senior class vice president Lauren Remer ran the blood drive. Remer assisted in running the blood drive her sophomore year and took full ownership over it her junior and senior years.

“I decided to do it because I wanted to do something positive for our community and I knew there were many students who would be interested,” she said.

There has been so much interest in the blood drive in previous years that there are often too many students who sign up, ASB advisor Ken Brown said.

Though ASB has not done the blood drive every year, they have done it ever since Remer joined ASB.

“Piedmont should do the blood drive to help others in the close community or even in the wider area whether it be the Bay Area or the USA,” junior Marina Kong said. “Donating blood benefits others by helping people who have operations or transfusions get the blood they need to keep them as healthy and alive.”

Having the blood drive at Piedmont also makes it convenient for people to give to the community.

“Piedmont should definitely do it because there are lots of willing participants at the high school who would usually not give blood due to the time needed to schedule an outside appointment,” senior Natalie Kucirek said.

Donating blood also has a tremendous impact on the community. According to americasblood.org, 4.5 million Americans will need a blood transfusion every year and one pint of blood, which is the amount that was drawn at the blood drive, can save up to three lives.

“I participated in the blood drive because I wanted to help save lives,” Kong said.

At the fall blood drive, 71 students participated in donating blood. Some students were not able to participate due to age and size restrictions, which affect the amount of blood one has.

Since some people may not reach these requirements the first time around, ASB is holding a second blood drive for those who did not get the chance to donate. In addition, students who donated blood in the fall said they are planning on donating again in the spring.

“I will definitely do it again, it was so painless and easy,” Kucirek said.