News Release February 25, 2008

Contact:
Julie Scott

303.361.2873
Bonfils Blood Center

Columbine High School Receives National Award for Blood Drives

DENVER (Feb. 25, 2008) –  Thane Hill, science teacher at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., will accept America’s Blood Centers’ (ABC) School Blood Drive Award at the association’s annual Awards of Excellence reception in New York this evening. Bonfils Blood Center’s partnership with Columbine High School dates back to 1982. The blood center nominated the high school for the national award after a recent string of highly successful blood drives.

Columbine High School participates in Bonfils’ Student Body High School Challenge aimed at encouraging youth to make blood donation a lifelong habit. For two consecutive years, the high school took top honors in the challenge’s Large High School Blood Drive and Most First-Time Donors categories respectively. According to Hill there are two main reasons Columbine High school blood drives are so successful – students recognize the importance of giving blood and faculty actively promote them.

“Hosting blood drives is something our school takes pride in doing,” said Hill. “This award is an affirmation of what we believe to be true at Columbine, and that is our school genuinely cares for others.”

Last year, 111 public and private high schools across the state participated in Bonfils’ Student Body High School Challenge. The program collected more than 6,000 units of blood to support the community blood supply and initiated nearly 4,000 students as first-time blood donors.

Bonfils Blood Center is a member of America’s Blood Centers, North America’s largest network of nonprofit, community blood centers. The 77 member blood centers together operate more than 600 collection sites in 45 U.S. states and Canada, providing half of the U.S. and all of the Canadian volunteer donor blood supply.

Bonfils Blood Center celebrates 65 years of saving lives through its ongoing stewardship of the community blood supply and the instrumental role it continues to play in the lives of patients in need throughout Colorado and beyond. Bonfils Blood Center supplies blood to more than 200 healthcare facilities and needs to collect more than 4,000 blood donations weekly to meet the needs of the community and to be prepared for any unexpected events. For information about Bonfils Blood Center please call 303.366.2000 or visit www.bonfils.org.