PHILIPSBURG – Typically, people involved in donating blood are at least 17 years of age. That’s all changing now, thanks to a new program being implemented in regional elementary and middle schools known as the American Red Cross Pint Size Heroes program.
Pint Size Heroes involves children in the blood donation process not by actual blood donation, but through donor recruitment. The program is set to visit three different elementary schools in the Philipsburg-Osceola District this month. Osceola Mills, Philipsburg and North Lincoln Hill Elementary schools will all be hosting Pint Size Heroes blood drives:
• Osceola Mills Elementary: Oct. 18 1-7 p.m.
• Philipsburg Elementary: Oct. 19 1-7 p.m.
• North Lincoln Hill Elementary Oct. 27 1-7 p.m.
To make the program even more fun and interesting for the students and schools involved, a trophy will be given to the school that collects the most pints of blood.
Each elementary school involved with the Pint Size Heroes program will sponsor a blood drive (measured by the pint) to which the students directly invite family and friends to donate on their behalf. Students who recruit at least one blood donor become Pint Size Heroes.
Pint Size Heroes’ purpose isn’t merely to invite eligible donors to a blood drive, however. The program also promotes community service, volunteerism and good citizenship training for the students.
It begins with a 15-minute educational assembly that teaches elementary students about the different uses for blood, the products obtained from blood donation, and the ongoing need for blood transfusions in our communities.
Students are then sent home armed with knowledge and an invitation to loved ones to donate on their behalf so that they may become Pint Size Heroes. After the blood drive, all students who invited donors receive recognition in the form of a small gift supplied to the school by the American Red Cross.
“It’s exciting because the Pint Size Heroes program gets students interested in becoming involved with their community,” stated Lydia Wallace, American Red Cross donor resources representative. “The winning school not only receives a trophy, but also each school that collects 30 pints or more receives a $250 scholarship to be awarded to the student of that school’s choice to attend an extracurricular educational program.” The scholarship will be transferred to the establishment of higher education that the student will be attending.
American Red Cross New Business Field Representative Scott Donatelli adapted Pint Size Heroes to the Greater Alleghenies Region in Summer 2005 from a program developed by the Northern Ohio Region of the Red Cross, located in Cleveland.
Donatelli was confident that the program had great potential, and he was right. The response from the students and schools that have been involved thus far has been anything but pint-sized.
“All the schools that have participated to date have done a fantastic job of donor recruitment,” he said. “These Pint Size Heroes drives have averaged collection goals of 45 to 55 pints! These are amazing results by any standards.”