On Thursday, October 27, Antioch Community High School partnered with LifeSource to host the third annual Blood Drive.

This year’s goal was 220 blood donations. Unfortunately, this year the school did not surpass the goal, but still resulted in an impressive 209 donations saving 627 lives.

In order to donate blood, students must be age 16 or older. It is recommended that the student gets a good night sleep and drinks lots of water before donating to accelerate the process. It is also recommended that students eat a well balanced, healthy meal before donating because if there’s too much fat in the blood, it could be dangerous and infectious to those receiving it.

Along with eating healthy options, keeping a steady iron level is important as well. Iron-rich foods such as poultry, red meat, spinach and iron cereals help keep iron in order.

Junior Megan Vraney has given blood for the second year in a row and has enjoyed the tradition knowing she’s helping those in need.

“It was a great experience,” Vraney said. “Knowing that I was able to help save lives by doing something [as] easy as giving my blood.”

The last few years of the blood drive have been successful, and are continuing to grow and spread across the community because of the positive effects that occur because of donating.