Nov. 29, Ames High Senior Senate helped start off the giving season with its bi-annual blood drive. About 83 donors registered for the drive, 76 of them first-time donors. “I thought that it was going be a lot more painful than it was, but it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be,” junior and first time donor Aubrie James said. “I was also afraid that I’d be underweight, but I wasn’t and I was really glad that I could give blood and help people.” 63 of the registered donors were able to donate, four of whom donated double red cells. Double red cell donation allows even more help to be extended to patients who then receive two units from the same donor. This process reduces patient exposure to multiple donors and makes post-transfusion complications less likely. This drive was different than past years in that it was open not only to 17 and 18-year-olds, but also to 16-year-olds. Another difference was that the drive was coordinated through the Greater Blood Bank of Iowa and that it was held in the Ames High gym, which was made available through the help of the Ames High Physical Education Department. One of the advantages of going through the Greater Blood Bank of Iowa was its capacity to accommodate more people. “We had almost double the people involved as previous years because the Greater Blood Bank of Iowa could take more people,” Senior Senate member and blood drive coordinator senior Meredith Parsons said. The drive collected about 67 units of whole blood that will go toward helping to save around 185 hospital patients once sorted out. “I’m really happy with the turnout of students and staff who were willing to donate blood,” English teacher and second year Senior Senate sponsor Tonja Goodwin said. “It’s just a really good thing that Senior Senate does.”