Please consider donating to the TJ blood drive. graphic by Mohamed Hassan
TJ students, staff, and community are rallying together to save lives.
Thomas Jefferson High School is partnering with the Red Cross to host a blood drive, which will take place on Wednesday, November 5th, from 8:30 am to 2:30 pm in the gym. All students and staff who are eligible are encouraged to participate. This opportunity is open to the entire community, so it’s also recommended to invite friends, family, and anyone else nearby to donate. Those who are interested must be at least 16 years old, be in good health, weigh at least 110 lbs, and have healthy iron levels. They also must not have given blood in the last 56 days. Students under the age of 18 will have to get a parental consent form signed. Keeping up good iron levels is mostly achieved through diet, so making sure to eat a balanced diet with plenty of iron and vitamin C can help.
If interested and eligible, call 1-800-RED-CROSS (1-800-733-2767) or visit RedCrossBlood.org to schedule an appointment. Make sure to bring a photo ID, blood donor card, or two other valid forms of ID (birth certificate, driver’s license, passport, social security card, etc). When entering the gym, donors will participate in a questionnaire with a Red Cross worker to get information about what could prevent someone from donating. Factors that could disqualify a donor include issues with blood pressure, anemia, or low iron. After blood is drawn, donors should remain in the gym for a few minutes with the provided snack and water to recharge. Overall, the entire process should take roughly 40 minutes to complete.
National Honors Society (NHS) sponsor and TJ choir teacher Tambyr Reed strongly encourages people to donate. A lot of hospital patients are in need of blood, so she wanted to run a blood drive where students could get involved and grasp the true meaning behind the process. “We had to turn a few folks away because they didn’t have enough appointments,” Reed recalled of the first blood drive in February 2025. After a very successful first attempt, the American Red Cross wanted the NHS to expand and try again. When asked why people should donate blood, Reed told a story of someone she knows who recently needed blood. “I think that first quantity of blood, had it not been there, and been provided, and donors giving graciously, he might not have made it.” This paints a picture that there is an urgent need for those who can donate to give their blood to people in need.
Donors might want to know the exact impact of their donation, so the Red Cross has a solution. There’s a Red Cross app where donors can track where their blood goes. “The last time I donated for the TJ blood drive, my blood ended up in Los Angeles helping somebody,” Reed explained.
Please consider supporting the life-saving effort that the Red Cross has brought to TJ, and encourage others to do the same. It will be greatly appreciated by those in need!
