The Canyon Community Blood Drive will be open for donors Saturday, March 23 at the Cole Community Center from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Graduating senior donors qualify to enter a $1000 scholarship drawing. All donors will receive a t-shirt, will be entered in a drawing for Pak-a-Sak gift cards and can designate their donation as a vote for a local school. Canyon High School and Caprock High School are within one percent of each other in the competition, and Amarillo High is in third place.

“We are hoping people donate at the community blood drive so we can win the contest,” Key Club Sponsor Lance Culbert said. “If people vote for Canyon High School, we get credit for their donation.”

Students and others who cannot donate at the Canyon Community Blood Drive can schedule an appointment at Coffee Memorial’s website or call 806-331-8833 to make an appointment. Donors must be at least 17 years old or 16 years old with a signed parent consent form. A valid photo ID is required.

“We are really pushing this community blood drive,” Culbert said. “If we win the Donor Days contest, there is a $2,000 cash prize associated with that. When we won last year, we used it to completely fund the paper recycling program here.”

Students who were ineligible to donate at the February drive because of illness or the meningitis vaccination are now eligible.

“Donations are really low because of people who were either sick or they were taking care of someone else who was sick,” Culbert said. “We also had a lot of students who had to defer their donation because they received meningitis vaccination a week before the drive, but now that deferral period is over. The area needs blood.”