Students at Texas High often reach out to help the Lifeshare Blood Donations Center, but this year Lifeshare is reaching out to Texas High.

“We are making changes to [try] to get the kids motivated,” Lifeshare representative Karen Siefert said, “and give them something other than just a T-shirt.”

Their incentive is to give away various prizes, such as oil changes, giftcards to Johnny Carinos and Cool Tanz, as well as a homecoming mum. In order to be eligible, students must donate blood during the blood drive Wednesday.

“I’m hoping, hoping and praying that we have a much bigger turnout, [and] that this will help draw the students in,” Siefert said. “Since it is homecoming, I thought that we needed to do something a little special. A little something for the kids that would help them and may offset some of the cost of homecoming.”

Blood is needed every two seconds, and about one in five people entering the hospital need blood. Most donated blood cells must be used within 42 days of collection. Blood is needed all the time and local high schools, like Texas High, can help. Local high schools account for approximately 25 percent of the annual blood collection, which has risen from 15 percent over the last few years.

The blood drive also has a special meaning this year. The drive is dedicated to art teacher Debbie Nicholas’s nephew, Colin Seville, who suffers from an AV, or Capillary, malformation. This condition has caused this nine-year-old to receive 15 blood transfusions since November 2011.  AV malformation is not a genetic condition and its causes are unknown. Colin’s condition causes bleeding from the intestinal tract and restricts his activity. Needless to say, the blood drive impacts many people’s lives and is one way high school students can give back to our community.

“The blood that we get from the high school is the majority of the blood that we get for the year. Without the high school students our hospitals would not have the blood for the people who need it,” Siefert said. “The high school students are the heroes of our community.”