GRHS students donate blood

Students were asked to bleed green for the 11th annual high school blood drive challenge.

Green River High School students and members of the community were at the high school auditorium Thursday for the same purpose: to donate blood.

While some students waited their turns and others ate snacks after donating blood, others were already in the donation chairs giving blood.

Kendahl Coy, blood drive chair and GRHS senior, said she was cochair last year and had a pretty good idea of what it would take to plan the event this year. She said Student Council members who volunteered for the blood-drive event started planning the event toward the end of November.

Getting volunteers for the blood drive event was easy, Coy said.

“Everyone loves blood drive,” Coy said.

She said it’s a fun committee to chair. All of the students know how important it is to save lives through donating blood. Coy said the additional fun comes in the form of the Rock Springs rivalry. Each year, the two communities try to outdo one another by seeing which group can donate more blood. The traveling trophy seems to go back and forth between the two communities.

“It’s always fun to beat Rock Springs,” Coy said.

On Thursday, the event seemed to be running pretty smooth. Coy attributed that to donors having the opportunity to fill forms out ahead of time online.

One change Coy would recommend to whoever heads the committee next year is to limit the amount of volunteers to about 18 because 25 is almost too much. However, she appreciated all the enthusiasm and positivity the volunteer students were bringing to the event.

“It’s always great to have the positivity,” Coy said.

She wanted to thank all of the phlebotomists who came from all over Wyoming, Utah, Idaho and Colorado to help out with the event. She said they were patient when working with the high-school students.