Area Devon Prep Students Give The Gift of Life

DEVON, PA -- According to Devon Pep Junior Matthew Szkolnicki of Springfield, “There’s nothing like the satisfaction of being able to save a life.”

That’s why he and nearly 50 Devon Prep students, teachers, and parents participated in a recent Red Cross Blood Drive sponsored by the school’s Christian Action Program (CAP), the school announced.

Forty-six pints of blood were collected during the Drive, which have the potential to save more than 125 lives.

Devon Prep has sponsored a Red Cross Blood Drive for more than 20 years, collecting nearly 800 pints of blood in that time. This was the second time Szkolnicki donated blood, but this time he made a Double Red donation. Double red is similar to a whole blood donation, except a special machine is used to allow the donor to safely donate two units of red blood cells during one donation while returning plasma and platelets to the donor.

Szkolnicki is happy to have participated in the Drive again and feels it is an important thing to do. “I did it because you could save a life or maybe multiple lives,” the eleventh grader explained. “It’s something anyone could do. It doesn’t really hurt and within a couple hours you’re back to normal.”

Some four million people give blood each year through the American Red Cross, making it the largest supplier of blood and blood products in the United States. For more than 50 years, the American Red Cross (http://www.redcross.org/) has been an innovator and a leader in transfusion medicine and research. Started as a relief effort to provide lifesaving plasma and blood during World War II, Red Cross Blood Services has grown-collecting and distributing nearly half the nation’s blood supply and many therapeutic blood products.

Devon Prep is a private, Catholic, college preparatory school for young men in grades six through 12 conducted by the Piarist Fathers and located on the Main Line. Nearly 300 students from the five county Philadelphia area attend Devon Prep which sits on a 20 acre campus on North Valley Forge Road in Devon, Chester County. For more information call 610-688-7337 or visit www.devonprep.com orwww.facebook.com/devonprep.

Image courtesy Devon Prep. Caption: Devon Prep Seniors Matthew Kelly of Exton (left) keeps Senior Max Verna of Villanova company as he donates blood during the school’s recent Red Cross Blood Drive.