American Red Cross representative, Karla Fenstermaker, spoke to students during X period on Tuesday about the importance of donating blood. “Every 2 seconds,” Fenstermaker said. “Somebody needs blood.”

Fenstermaker used her own experience of losing her father from internal bleeding and the almost universally shared experience of losing someone to cancer to stress the importance of donating blood. Chances are, everyone knows somebody who has needed a blood transfusion.

Apart from the impact that donating blood has, Fenstermaker talked at length about the process of blood donation; from extracting blood from donors, to processing the blood, and finally delivering it to hospitals around the country. The blood that students donate will go on this long journey with the ultimate stop being someone in need.

The annual Blood Drive will be held on Feb. 22. To sign up to donate, contact an Upper School Student Council member. All blood is encouraged, but O negative is particularly useful as it can be universally used. Additionally, if you are sick, anemic, or have other illnesses that could be spread through the transfusion of blood, you may not be eligible (click here to see the blood donor eligibility criteria).