By Ben Pham ’27

Toward the end of February, Mercersburg Academy held a blood drive in association with the American Red Cross. The event, originally proposed by Sofiia Harkava ’27, was planned and executed with the help of Director of Experiential Education Emily Parsons P ’21,’22, ’26, along with 15 other volunteers. In total, 33 donors gave blood during the initiative.

“I’ve always been passionate about donating blood and medical activism, and since I’m from Ukraine, I’ve seen the value of blood,” said Harkava. “Given my two years of tactical medicine and first aid training, I know that every two seconds, someone in the U.S. needs blood. If you go to a hospital, there’s a 40 percent chance you will need a blood transfusion. A ton of people need blood transfusions, but only around 30 percent of the U.S. population is eligible to donate blood, and even less actually do. We are in a very remote location, which makes it challenging for people to go out there and donate blood. On the other hand, we have a lot of athletes, young people who are physically capable of donating.” 

Around late October, Parsons and Harkava reached out to the Red Cross, which had already hosted a blood drive at Mercersburg and was familiar with Mercersburg’s facilities and personnel.

To make this idea a reality, Harkava and Parsons continued planning into the winter term, emailing out registration forms, and giving an address during a school meeting. 

“Very quickly after we sent out the form, within two or three weeks, all 41 spots were filled,” Harkava said. “The two weeks leading up to the blood drive, we had to make sure all the donors were healthy and could still donate, planning backup donors to sign up just in case somebody got sick and couldn’t donate.”

In the end, the blood drive received 35 units of blood, equaling around 4.5 gallons. Members of the community, including the local sheriff, also stopped by to donate blood.

In the future, Harkava plans to have the blood drive become an annual event and earn the American Red Cross Scholarship, which would give Mercersburg Academy school funding for health-care clubs and initiatives.

“Donating blood is more important than people think, and it's way easier than they may imagine,” said Harkava. “Allocating 45 minutes of your time to donating blood can make much more of a significant difference than many people think.”

Pictured above: Harkava (second from right) with volunteers at the blood drive.