Roy Bowen (above) and Shanaye Blackmon (left) were two of the donors contributing to the success of the HOSA blood drive at W-WCHS last week. The Washington-Wilkes Comprehensive High School Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) club sponsored a blood drive at the school on Tuesday, January 29, and collected 58 units of blood from students and teachers.

The Shepeard Community Blood Center from Augusta conducted the drive in the Health Occupations room at the high school. Each donor received a free t-shirt and snacks.

Students learned that each unit donated has the potential to save three lives, so for the day, as many as 174 lives might be saved.

Shepeard provides blood components to all local hospitals in Richmond, Columbia, and Aiken counties and eight other surrounding counties in Georgia and South Carolina including Wilkes County. Representatives from Shepeard congratulated W-WCHS on the tremendous turnout, saying they consider 20 units a successful drive and this drive netted nearly three times that amount.