Every year, Columbus Academy hosts three blood drives to collect donations for the Red Cross. Over the past couple of years, the CA blood drives have been very successful, filling up all their spots and exceeding their expected donations. This past week, Academy donated 33 pints of blood, surpassing its 22 pint expectation.

According to the American Red Cross, a pint of blood can save up to three lives, but how necessary are these donations?

In our country, someone needs blood every two seconds, which adds up to more than 41,000 blood donations needed each day. The number of blood donations collected annually in the U.S. nears 16 million which means that 9.2 million people donate blood every year.

Unfortunately, strict eligibility requirements by the Red Cross and a lack of awareness leads to less than 10% of the eligible American population actually donating.

With increased awareness about the necessity of blood donations and heightened public education on the topic, the Red Cross would be able to collect even more donations each year, saving millions of more lives.

Written by Varun Vallabhaneni’16