WILMINGTON — Salesianum School and Padua Academy are teaming up with the Blood Bank of Delmarva to hold a blood drive on April 1 at Talleyville Fire Company. The drive, which runs from noon-6 p.m., is open to the public, and appointments can be made at www.delmarvablood.org or by calling 888-8-BLOOD-8.
According to Blood Bank spokesman Tony Prado, Salesianum and Padua are responsible for some of the biggest blood drives during the school year. High schools and colleges account for 25 percent of the blood collected during a normal school year, but most drives have been canceled during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Salesianum students involved in the blood drive are Brody Valentine, Jeff Rich, Colin Lynch, Nick Dorio, Ethan Walker, Thomas Parker, Josh Spence, John Duppel, and Jordan Mischler as part of a capstone student project. They are being joined by Padua’s Margaret Patterson, Kylie Moor, Ayanna Shah, Alexandra Mavridis, Sara Moore, Catherine Keane and Natalia Frabizzio.
“For our service project, we wanted to work with the blood bank because we knew how much
they have been affected by the pandemic,” the Sallies students said in a statement. “We got in touch with representatives from the Delmarva Blood bank and set up a blood drive.”
According to Prado, someone in the United States needs blood every two seconds, and it cannot be manufactured outside the human body. Donations are perishable; red blood cells must be used within six weeks, while platelets last just five days. It takes at least 30 donors a day to keep the Blood Bank’s inventory stocked.
Talleyville Fire Company is located at 3919 Concord Pike, Wilmington.
