A near death experience drives student council president Sara Sorge to make each Rider blood drive a success.

“I lost so much blood my sophomore year that I had a heart attack,” Sorge said. “People don’t normally think about helping somebody like that, but if nobody had donated, I could have died. That’s why it’s so important to me.”

During her sophomore year, Sorge received several blood transfusions and might not have lived had she not been given the transfusions, which was why she was “so persistent on having at least two,” Mroczkowski said.

“We have had yearly blood drives on and off for several years, and now we are going to do two this year,” librarian and student council sponsor Sally Mroczkowski said. “Sara Sorge is the main reason that we are doing two this year; she was very passionate about it.”

About 90 students signed up to donate in the drive this November. Students have to be 16 years old and meet the weight requirement in order to donate in the school’s drive.

“I think that it’s something that almost anyone can do,” Mroczkowski said. “Such a small percent of people do donate, so I was impressed with the students that made the choice when a lot of the time people choose not to. You can be suprised with what students are willing to do for a good cause.”