By Cynthia Grau/WJEZ News

March is American Red Cross month and the organization is still pleading for blood donors to come to blood drives and donate.

Pontiac Bloodmobile Chairperson Dixie Vogel talks about the benefits to the organization when high school students participate in blood drives.

“Our high school now does two drives a year and I think that’s fantastic. They only did one for awhile and they’re very successful. I go back and know that for a fact because at a blood drive 15 to 20 years ago, I asked everybody at the door when they started and what made them do it. Probably 80 to 90 percent of them said they did the first blood drive at high school and there was encouragement and they found it favorable,” Vogel said.

She also describes the guidelines for donors.

“You have to be 16 years old with a form signed by a parent, that you have their permission.  But if you’re 17, you can come and just donate, and of course you’re welcome to come to the public one at the VFW on the fourth Wednesday of every month, also. You have to be in good health and we want you to stay healthy, also. You have to be at least 110 pounds, because if you think of taking the same amount of blood out of a 110 pound person compared to a 200 pound man, we want to keep that in balance for that person, so that’s why the weight restriction is,” Vogel said.

Vogel was a guest on a recent Community Forum where she talks more about the importance of donating blood. That can be found at WJEZ.com.