Record-breaking blood drive earns Scouts a Silver

Special to the Journal

Three Cadette Girl Scouts from Troop 60504 in Warner Robins prepared, organized and hosted a record-breaking blood drive on June 28 at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church for their Silver Award. No other Girl Scout Troop in the area has ever worked with the Red Cross and it was such a life-changing event.

It became more than hosting a blood drive and earning their Silver Award. It has turned into a long-term, forever volunteering with the Red Cross mission for the girls and their families.

On the adventure that they explored since April 2013, the girls learned so many things. They learned about the media (local television and newspaper coverage), budgeting/finances, public speaking, fundraising/sponsors, organization skills, event planning, conflict resolution, teamwork, arts and so much blood information such as types, the record low of donations, rare bloods, diseases and how it passes through family.

The three girls also each worked on their on parts of the project to submit outside the group. Sydney learned about family bloodlines, Ellie learned about rarity in blood and what kind of blood you can donate or receive, and Melanie learned about the RH factor and Family Components. Each girl researched their area along with studied their Journey Books and then met to share with the group what they learned.

The girls worked one to two times per week since April for three to six hours at a time. They went on a VIP tour to the Red Cross processing facility in Douglasville, where they learned every process the blood takes after it leaves a blood drive. They learned the facility is host not only to Georgia, but also the entire southeast region.

“To see that the shelves were so low in the blood supply, that is when we knew this project changed all of us forever,” they said. “If there were a crisis in our area, there would be a critical need for blood.”

The girls hope that they inspire other people to donate blood, host a drive or simply volunteer at a blood drive. These three girls who can’t drive a car or even old enough to donate blood put this together … so can you.

One of the girls wants her senior project (Gold Award) to now be mentoring a younger troop to host a blood drive for their own Silver Drive in the area.

Melanie Hughes, Sydney Basti and Ellie Brooks are all 14, and their goal was 50 donors, which they had to change to 100 because the appointments were filling fast. One hundred and fifteen people signed in that day, despite the severe weather. Ninety-three of those people were able to donate for 77 pints of blood; each pint can save three to nine lives. These girls saved at least 230 lives in one day if not more by sharing their story.

(The pint to people ratio is lower because they test six vials of blood from each donor, which decreases the total of pints collected.)

They broke an area record for a non-illness drive (In Memory For or to find a Private Donor Blood Drive – which in itself their record was only 130 donors) or a college/school blood drive.

The best part about this adventure is a 2:15 minute long video/commercial that they will use when there is a big blood drive being held in our area or when the Red Cross says the status is critical to try to motivate people into helping. The video is also on the Red Cross YouTube Channels forever to inspire and mark the world.

“Lastly, we couldn’t have done this without our Girl Scout friends who put together raffle baskets, entertained, promoted our event along side us and came and did childcare,” they said. “We also couldn’t have done this without the Church hosting us for free and the ARC, especially our advisor Kristen Keifer.”

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