The Key Club placed first in the Donors Day blood drive large school contest after hosting the Coffee Memorial Blood Center blood drive in February. The club will use the $2,000 award money to fund next year’s recycling program as well as other future projects.

Kids Inc. sponsored the competition from Feb. 1 to March 31. Those who participated in the spring blood drive were given the opportunity to use their blood donation as a vote for the school they wished to represent. 

“I would’ve loved to have more donors, but sometimes, we just have to work with what we have,” Key Club sponsor Lance Culbert said. “We can do all the work on the back end, and we make it run smoothly, but if we don’t have donors, it’s a lost cause. Canyon High’s always been great about having students who are willing to donate.”

Culbert has participated in blood drives for more than 20 years and said he was inspired by his mother, who also took part in community service.

“My mom was really big on helping people,” Culbert said. “This woman was in a nursing home, and her mind was gone, but my mom always went and visited her. If she knew this lady was going to have family or something come and visit her, she would go and fix her hair so she would be pretty for company. She never said anything about that to us; that was just something very quiet she did, and I didn’t know about it until after she’d passed away.”

Culbert said nothing can take the place of blood donations.

“We had a Key Club member whose mom became very ill, and she required 50 units of blood,” Culbert said. “If there weren’t blood drives going on all the time, then she probably would’ve died because she didn’t have blood. I always think about that student whenever we have a blood drive.”

According to Culbert, people do not have to participate in the large community service projects to feel good about helping someone. 

“I always think it’s good to do stuff like the blood drive that’s very public and very open,” Culbert said. “But it’s also great to do stuff that’s very quiet and that nobody will know about, because it keeps your heart in the right place. Sometimes, those quiet services are better for your soul than the big stuff. They’re both good, but sometimes I think it keeps your heart in the right place if you know that no one’s going to know about it.”