Drive draws blood donors

Trent Sladics had never given blood before, but the Newport Harbor

High School senior had a personal reason to do so Wednesday.

“My grandpa almost died, and he got saved by blood,” Trent, 17,

explained as he sat inside St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church with a

red band around his elbow.

Not everyone who stopped by the church had had a blood transfusion

in the family, but they had an important cause regardless. The

six-hour blood drive, held by Newport Harbor’s Student Political

Action Committee, was intended to benefit victims of Hurricane

Katrina.

Every year, the Student Political Action Committee organizes three

blood drives for the American Red Cross. The club had a drive on its

October schedule even before the hurricane hit, but the disaster

proved an easy motivator for students to sign up. By the end of the

day, the Red Cross nurses who packed a small area of the church had

extracted 81 pints of blood -- one of the highest numbers the Action

Committee had ever gathered.

“The hurricane, I think, drew a lot of people in,” said

co-organizer Danielle Mayer, 17. Also, she noted, “Everyone likes to

donate because they can get out of class. They get to eat food and

watch movies.”

During the last few weeks, members of the student group visited

classrooms with sign-up sheets, explaining that the drive was

particularly urgent because of the hurricanes. By the time Danielle

and co-organizer Harrison Brown set their tables up Wednesday at

dawn, 153 students had signed up -- although only some actually

showed up.

As the school day passed across the street at Newport Harbor High,

students used their break and even class time to walk over to the

church to donate. Those who finished got to enjoy cookies and juice

and watch a “Seinfeld” DVD on a portable television -- an idea from

Harrison, 17, who said, “Comedy is a good calmer-downer.”

The large turnout Wednesday was unusual for an October blood

drive. Advisor Phil D’Agostino said the student group usually signs

up the most students in February and May, since by that time more

students have turned 17 and are eligible to donate blood.

Jordan Schunk, 17, another senior who gave blood for the first

time, said the spirit of charity had gotten around school.

“We got sign-up sheets in economics class, and everyone was doing

it,” he said.

The blood drive was the first of several major events that the

Action Committee -- which started six years ago with eight members

and now has 93 -- has on the docket for the fall. Before the

homecoming football game this month, the student group will host a

75th anniversary celebration for Newport Harbor, inviting more than

11,000 alumni to a dinner by the stadium. In November, the club will

hold its annual fundraising auction.

“I think there’s a perception out there that high school students

are more involved with their iPods and their MTV, but when there’s a

cause out there, they can become highly politically active,”

D’Agostino said.