On Wednesday, members of the BVNW community came together for one cause: giving blood. National Honor Society (NHS), paired with the Community Blood Bank, organized the annual blood drive in the auxiliary gymnasium.

When representatives of the Community Blood Bank come to talk to NHS each year, NHS sponsor Sherry Unruh said everyone is eager to say they want to donate because everyone wants to save a life.

“Giving blood to save a life is a lot different than rushing into a car accident and pulling somebody out of a flaming car,” Unruh said. “There’s a spontaneity about it, whereas with donating blood, you kind of have an opportunity to think about it. There’s some wait time.”

Junior Lauren Baumert donated blood for the first time this year at the drive. She said the worst part was psyching herself out and over thinking the process.

“I’ve always been afraid of needles, and so that always freaked me out, but I figured I could get over that if I could help save someone’s life,” Baumert said.

Unruh said the blood drive was open to everyone in the BVNW community, not just students and staff. Seeing everybody come together for the cause is one of her favorite parts of the blood drive.

“It’s a big investment in the lives of our community, not just in the life of the students here at BVNW,” Unruh said.

After eating a healthy breakfast and drinking plenty of water in preparation for donating, Baumert said she did not think the donation process was as hard as she was expecting. Unruh said many people tend to be frustrated when they find they cannot donate due to a lack of preparation.

“[NHS tries] to do a pretty good job of making sure that the kids that donate know that they’ve got to prepare themselves for the donation,” Unruh said. “A lot of kids that sign up that get turned away because they’ve been out of the country [or have not met other requirements].”

Baumert said she thought the blood drive was overall a good experience. She plans to donate again next year.

 “I think knowing that it’s going for a good cause gives you motivation to [donate],” Baumert said. “I thought it was pretty cool that your blood goes to a person that lives here in Kansas City.”