Teens Donate Blood for City Youngster with Cancer

Laura Pena had never given blood and is scared of needles, but the Academies@Englewood sophomore was moved to donate Tuesday after learning about a city youngster with cancer. 

“I figured I might as well do something I don’t like to help someone else,” said Pena, one of about five-dozen students from both the Academies@Englewood and Dwight Morrow High School who participated in the school’s annual spring blood drive. 

This year’s drive, organized by school nurse Barbara Manche and health and science teacher John Jasinski, was dedicated to Nicholas Tolliver, a 5-year-old Englewood boy who was recently diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. 

“I thought it would be really good for the students here to actually have a face, so it’s not just some anonymous thing,” Manche said of the blood drive. “It’s being done in honor of him.” 

Manche, who started the high school’s biannual blood drive eight years ago, said it brings out a sense of pride in the students while also instilling a desire to give back to those in need. 

She said students who begin donating blood when they’re young are more likely to continue donating regularly as they get older. 

“We have repeats,” Manche said. “They come in to me like, ‘When’s the next blood drive? When’s the next blood drive?'”

Rob Fisher is one of those repeats. The Dwight Morrow senior first donated blood at a school drive last year.

“I have no problem donating to people who need it,” said Fisher, removing the blue Beats by Dre headphones from his ears. “I feel that I’m doing a good deed. Technically, I’m kind of saving someone’s life. If I take the time to come donate a little bit of my blood and stay healthy, it could make a difference.”

Jasinski, now in his third year coordinating the school blood drive with Manche, said he enjoys seeing the smiles on kids’ faces after they give blood, knowing that they’re helping out not only the Englewood community, but patients in hospitals across the state.

The Community Blood Council of New Jersey, which sends individuals to Englewood to draw the blood at no cost to the district, collects between 50 and 60 units of blood at each drive, but about twice that number of students actually sign up to donate, Jasinski said. About half are rejected for a variety of reasons, from having recently visited a foreign country to having a tattoo.

Following each year's drives, the CBC doles out $1,000 in scholarship money to recognize the students for their donations.

Jasinski said the scholarship money is distributed among five or six students who played an integral part in planning, promoting and executing that year's drives.

Follow Englewood-Englewood Cliffs Patch on Facebook and Twitter or subscribe to our free daily newsletter. News tip? E-mail englewood@patch.com