Henry Ford II honored for sponsoring SE Michigan's most successful student blood drive program

The American Red Cross recently honored Henry Ford II High
School students and staff for sponsoring the most successful blood donation
drives in Southeastern Michigan (Macomb, Oakland, St. Clair, Wayne and
Washtenaw counties) over the past year.

A total of 241 units were donated at the school’s fall 2011
and spring 2012 blood drives and was the most successful school drive in
Macomb, Oakland, St. Clair, Wayne and Washtenaw counties. The drives were
organized by students in the Henry Ford II Interact Club and their advisor,
math teacher Matt Trombley.  

Red Cross regional representative Bridget McCormick, at
school to present the award, lauded not only the students who staged the
events, but those who rolled up their sleeves to donate – including 167
first-timers.

“The students are amazing. They accounted for 90 percent of
the donors,” she said, adding that because a single donor can potentially save
three lives, as many as 723 people were aided by their efforts.

The students not only host the most successful Red Cross
drives, they do so with precision, said Henry Ford II principal Steve Beyer.

“Mr. Trombley and his students are so well-organized that
even with so many people involved there is very little disruption to the school
day,” he said.

Interact is the youth arm of the Rotary International
service organization. Ford II senior Madison Fullmer, one of the Interact
student leaders, said she enjoys helping people in the community.  But she
has a special reason for working particularly hard on the blood drives – her
late grandfather who was seriously ill and required transfusions.

“He was able to live longer and visit us more because of the
people who donated,” she said.  

Donation drives hosted by businesses, churches and schools
are literally the life’s blood of more than 40 hospitals in our region. And
that’s reason enough for the Interact students to have already planned their
next Red Cross blood drive – coming up on Friday, October 26 from 7:30 a.m. to
1:15 p.m. at the high school.

This fall the club is also organizing a UNICEF Halloween
collection, a Linus Project blanket drive and a cupcake sale to benefit cancer
research.