533 students receive ImpactLife's Student Impact Award

Published by Kirby Winn on Wednesday, June 5, 2024 in News Releases

ImpactLife is recognizing the contributions of 533 high school students who earned the blood center’s Student Impact Award during the 2023-24 school year. The award is given to students who give blood, recruit donors, and/or organize blood drives while in high school. To receive the Student Impact Award, recipients must earn six credits in any of the following categories before high school graduation:

• donating blood (one credit per donation);
• recruiting a new or lapsed donor (one credit per donor);
• volunteering for blood drive planning (one credit per blood drive);
• or by serving as a Blood Drive Coordinator (six credits per blood drive). 

Of the 533 students who earned the Student Impact Award in the 2023-24 school year, 490 are members of the Class of 2024. This year’s total number of award recipients (533) represents an increase of 16% over the 2022-23 school year, when 458 students received the Student Impact Award. 

"Working towards the Student Impact Award is a great way for students to prove their leadership skills, earn volunteer hours, and help our community,” said Lindsay Erhardt-Hansen, Manager, Regional Development. “Our Student Impact Award recipients have demonstrated commitment and dedication to helping others, and these characteristics will benefit the communities we serve long into the future.” 

Student Impact Award recipients receive an award certificate and a red cord that signifies the connection between the blood donor, ImpactLife, and patients who have been helped by the student’s support of our region’s blood supply. With permission from their school, students may choose to wear the red cord in their high school graduation ceremony. 

School-based blood drives are a significant source of support for our region’s blood supply. ImpactLife held 508 blood drives with high schools held during the 2023-24 school year, leading to a total of 11,082 donations given by donors 16 to 19 years of age. (For more information on the Student Impact Award, see www.bloodcenter.org/award.)  

ImpactLife offers its LifeSavings Grant to recognize and thank schools that sponsor blood drives. Primary and secondary schools that host blood drives qualify for the grant program by sponsoring blood drives that collect at least 20 donations. LifeSavings Grants can be used to fund scholarships, make a charitable donation, provide for classroom or curriculum needs, or help defray expenses related to the blood drive. Following each blood drive, schools can apply to receive a grant of $250, plus one dollar for each donation. While LifeSavings Grant applications are still being submitted for the 2023-24 school year, the blood center has processed 464 successful grant applications year-to-date, with $132,090 in grants awarded. (More information at www.bloodcenter.org/lifesavings.)  

With 2023-24 education sector blood drives coming to an end, ImpactLife looks to increase appointment schedules at its Donor Centers and community blood drives to make up for donations the blood center won’t collect at schools during summer break. To find an ImpactLife Donor Center location or mobile blood drive, call (800) 747-5401, schedule online at www.bloodcenter.org or via the ImpactLife mobile app (www.bloodcenter.org/app).

To thank donors who give blood at this time of year, ImpactLife is providing all presenting donors with a voucher to redeem for their choice of an electronic gift card, bonus points to use in the ImpactLife Donor Rewards Store, or an equivalent value donation to Best Friends Animal Society through the blood center’s “Good Giving” program.

ImpactLife Donor Rewards (through June 30)

• Whole blood donation (Donor Centers and mobile blood drives)
  • $20 gift card, $20 donation OR 1,000 points
• Double red and plasma only donations 
  • $25 gift card, $25 donation OR 1,500 points
• Platelet donations (donors who have given platelets 2+ times previously with ImpactLife)
  • $25 gift card, $25 donation OR 1,500 points
• Platelet donations (donor’s first or second attempt to ever give platelets with ImpactLife)
  • $50 gift card, $50 donation OR 3,000 points

About ImpactLife

ImpactLife is a nonprofit community organization providing blood products and services to more than 100 hospitals and emergency medical service providers in Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, and Wisconsin, as well as researchers and resource sharing partners across the country. ImpactLife operates 23 Donor Centers and holds approximately 5000 mobile blood drives annually to provide blood components needed for patient transfusions at hospitals throughout our region.

For more information on blood inventories and donor promotions, see www.bloodcenter.org and find us @impactlifeblood on Facebook, X, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn.

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