January is National Blood Donor Month, and the Sedona Red Rock High School Student Council is marking it with a community blood drive on Wednesday, Jan. 31, from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Sedona Performing Arts Center.

The event is being held in partnership with Scottsdale based Vitalant, a nationwide blood donation nonprofit formerly known as United Blood Services.

“Not only are you helping the community, all of the blood is going to local hospitals in the state of Arizona,” SRRHS Student Council Vice President and senior Skyla Bird said. “So not only are you helping Arizona as a whole and people that need the blood, but also it’s fun to get out there and fun to interact. All of the people that work there are nice and you get free snacks. You get a sticker and you get a Renaissance [Festival] ticket.”

Student council’s last blood drive was in September, which saw between 50 and 60 people donate. Bird said their goal for this drive is to have 70 participants.

“It’s been surprising to see the kinds of people that show up to these blood drives,” Bird said. “Because when I first started leading the blood drive, I advertised a bit and I got more older folks that came in and gave blood because they saw it in their doctor’s office. But with more advertising I’m surprised to see how many younger people or people [with] full day jobs come in. There’s some construction workers that come in on their short break and give.”

Bird added that she first learned about how to organize blood drives during her sophomore year and that a large part of putting these events on is learning how to coordinate with local media outlets, plus the fine art of emailing people.

“Normally, I work with the rest of the students at the student council,” Bird said. “Normally we give them an incentive. Like if you sign up a certain number of people and they donate, you get a homecoming ticket, or gift card. I normally spend most of my time, the week leading up to it, handing out pamphlets and bringing them to different stores to get the word out.”

Prospective donors must be at least 16 years old, weigh 110 pounds or more, be in good health, have a photo ID and have waited two months since their last whole blood donation.

“We normally give out chips, we have doughnuts sometimes,” Bird said. “Vitalant brings a whole assortment of cookies and they have sodas and water. We have a really big table with an assortment of food …we give out free stickers.”

Donors will receive a voucher for one adult admission to the Arizona Renaissance Festival, held in February and March in Gold Canyon.

National Public Radio reported on Jan. 15 that the American Red Cross has declared an emergency blood shortage because there has been nearly a 40% drop in the number of people donating blood over the last 20 years.

“If you have never given blood, we need you,” Vitalant stated in an event flier. “The number of Americans who give blood is declining. There is no substitute for human blood and many patients cannot survive without it. Giving blood is truly a selfless and heroic act that gives life to patients. Make an appointment to give blood today.”

Donors are encouraged to make an appointment to give blood. Appointments can be made by phone by calling (877) 258-4825, online at donors.vitalant.org with promo code SRRHS or by meeting with a member of the SRRHS Student Council.