Students are out for blood
By Sydney Kornegay
cub@TheColumbiaStar.com

Blakely Meadows, Apoorva Srivastava and Lauren McFadden are officers of A. C. Flora High School's new Red Cross Club. Photo by Sydney Kornegay

The Red Cross is seeking donations from A. C. Flora High School students, but this time, they don't want blood. Flora students have recently created a Red Cross Club, which allow students to donate their time to helping the organization.

The club is part of the Red Cross' new initiative to get youth involved in the organization's activities. It will be responsible for raising money for the local chapter, drawing awareness to the organization's missions, and local and international service.

Apoorva Srivastava, a Flora senior and founder of the Red Cross Club, said she first thought about starting it after volunteering at the local blood bank this summer.

"I've always been fascinated by the Red Cross because of their diligent work after every disaster," she said. "I wanted to know how else I could help."

When Srivastava heard that the Red Cross was trying to get high schools involved, she jumped at the opportunity to start a club at Flora. Her classmates were responsive as well, and over 90 students signed up at Flora's Club Fair to participate.

The Flora Red Cross Club will join clubs from Hammond, USC, and Richland One Middle College in supporting the South Carolina chapter of the Red Cross. The groups plan to convene together in October for a Youth Conference where club members will receive training and fundraising ideas.

Members from all four clubs participated in one of their first fundraisers two weekends ago at Wal-Mart. Representatives took up donations inside the store and raised over $800 for the organization.