Fair Grove held its annual winter blood drive on Friday, December eighth. Fair Grove first started doing the community blood drive in 1987, making this the 30th year that Fair Grove has held a blood drive.

The blood drive is set up by FBLA (Future Business Leaders of America). Sandra Robinson is the sponsor of FBLA in Fair Grove. “The purpose of the blood drive is two-fold.  One is to save lives.  Every unit of blood collected can potentially save three patients.  The second reason is to foster community service and charity in students,” Robinson stated. The people who set up the blood drive are the officers of FBLA. “FBLA officers are the primary chairpersons of the blood drive.  Mrs. Overstreet and myself facilitate and guide, however, it is the work of the FBLA officers that make it successful,” Robinson said. The leading officers in charge of the blood drive were Jordan Coddington, Taylor Bell and Logan Holliman. Other officers that helped contribute to the blood drive were Stewart Hopkins, Liz Holland, Ryan Padgett, and Alex Ince.

In order to donate blood, one must be in good general health, weigh at least 110 pounds, and have a parent consent form if the donor is of the age of 16 years old. If the donor is 17 years old or older, the donor does not have to have a parental signature in order to donate blood. Every unit of blood that is donated can help save up to three people. “Because the CBCO(Central Banks of the Ozarks) keeps their blood as local as possible, any student, faculty, staff or community member can utilize blood donated at our blood drives,” Robinson commented.