The American Red Cross organized a blood drive once again with Cerritos College on Jan. 30-31 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., which took place at the Student Stage Center/Food Court.

To keep up with the winter shortage, they come to Cerritos College around every two months to encourage any healthy adult to donate blood.

With or without an appointment, anyone who wants to donate can sign up and go through a few simple steps to ensure they meet the requirements to be considered eligible to donate.

First, one will check in at the front desk that is being attended by volunteers and then, scan the QR code to answer a few questions on the website.

Once you registered with an ID and do a mini physical, one is eligible to donate.

If O+, there is the option to do Power Red. It is a machine that allows the donation of red blood cells while adding the plasma back to the body, instead of all aspects of the blood that include the plasma, platelets and red blood cells.

There are also separate prerequisites for the Power Red machines, so make sure you choose the one that’s most comfortable to you.

Team Supervisor Robin Valentine has been working with the Red Cross organization for over 8 years. Valentine claims that during the winter months, there’s always a drop in donations.

“In the winter time, a lot of people are out for the season,” she said, “so we get most of our blood from high schools.”

Apart from having to rely on high schools during winter, there are also some hospitals that simply are hard to reach due to the snow.

Consequently, there isn’t enough blood for everyone.

The Red Cross hosts these blood drives so often to encourage not only students, but staff and locals to donate for a bigger cause.

“The goal is to have a steady supply of blood for people that are in need,” Alan Vera said, a Red Cross volunteer.

Vera has been volunteering at the Red Cross for a few years and they have learned that despite proper storage, there is still a limit as to when the blood should be used.

They emphasized that there is always a need for blood and it is important to have a for hospitals or those who need blood transfusions.

“It’s healthy actually,” Darrel Hillman said, music major, “we have to reproduce the blood we just donated and it’s helpful to others who are in need.”

Hillman went on to say that he doesn’t have a reason to donate, but has previously gone to other drives to donate.

“I always ask everyone to donate blood- you have to, it’s the right thing to do,” Mario Aguirre said, a Cerritos local.

Aguirre is not a student or staff at Cerritos, but he heard of the blood drive and as a recurring donor, decided to donate once again.

It doesn’t matter who you are or where you come from, the sole purpose of these drives really are to help save another person.

Let’s increase the pint count, let’s make them all count.

Come join the upcoming blood drive this April 10-11 and help them reach their goal. Make sure to spread the word and bring your friends along too.