NY Yankees & NY Blood Center Announce Local HS Blood Drive Champions

RYE, NY — Hitting a home run in the World Series might be the dream of thousands of young students, but a Big League team has paired up with a local organization to honor even bigger heroes.

The New York Blood Center (NYBC) and the New York Yankees have announced the local winners for their annual High School Blood Donor Championship program, where high schools across the area compete against each other to collect the most blood donations.

The championship has been held yearly for more than 25 years, contributing to more than one million life-saving blood donations from local high school students and faculty. The winning high schools were awarded a total of 550 tickets and honored at the New York Yankees home game on June 5.

Over 33,000 donations were made at NYBC's high school drives in the 2023-2024 school year. Before the pandemic, NYBC collected 50,000 blood donations annually from these drives.

NYBC has experienced a 50 percent decrease in youth donors and first-time donors over the last four years. The organization recently declared a blood emergency, underscoring the ongoing challenges for the blood supply and the critical need for a new generation of blood donors.

SEE ALSO: NY Blood Center Declares Blood Emergency Before 'Summer Trauma Season'

"We are grateful to the New York Yankees for their unwavering support for New York Blood Center and the greater New York community, along with the hundreds of high school students who gave the gift of life as part of this year's High School Blood Donor Championship," Andrea Cefarelli, Senior VP at NYBC, said. "We are in need of youth and first-time blood donors now more than ever and we hope this initiative inspires high schools across the state to host blood drives and help us teach the younger generation about the importance of blood donation."

The awards include "Most Donations," "Most Improved," and "Rookie of the Year," which celebrates a school that is new to running blood drives. The winning high schools are listed below:

Hudson Valley:

• The Mount Academy (Esopus, NY)
• Pleasantville High School (Pleasantville, NY)
• Peekskill High School (Peekskill, NY)

All High Schools:

• Most Blood Donations: North Hunterdon High School (Annandale, NJ)
• Most Improved: Middletown High School (Queens, NY)
• Rookie of the Year: School of the Future High School (New York, NY)

New York City:

• Abraham Joshua Heschel High School (New York, NY)
• Yeshiva of Flatbush (Brooklyn, NY)
• Xavier High School (New York, NY)

Long Island:

• Bridgehampton High School (Bridgehampton, NY)
• Lynbrook High School (Lynbrook, NY)
• Chaminade High School (Mineola, NY)

New Jersey:

• Bound Brook High School (Bound Brook, NJ)
• Morristown Beard School (Morristown, NJ)
• North Hunterdon High School (Annandale, NJ)

The NYBC hosts daily blood drives and operates 19 donor centers in the region to reach donors and meet local hospital needs. Blood donors can give every 56 days, and platelet donors can give twice per month. The FDA recently lifted several blood donor eligibility restrictions. To view current eligibility guidelines, visit the NYBC website or call 1-800-688-0900.

To donate, call 1-800-933-2566 or visit the NYBC website to make an appointment. If you can't donate blood, you can still support the NYBC’s mission by texting 'NYBC' to '20222' to give $25.