With October’s arrival, vampires are not the only ones who need blood this time of year. Many Etowah students decided to donate blood at the Red Cross blood drive on Oct. 7 to help those in need. 

“I have O positive blood, and I thought helping other people would be really cool,” Matthew Klemin, senior, said. 

When it comes to donating, some choose to donate because their blood type is one of the most common or most needed. Type O blood can be given to anyone regardless of blood type because it is the universal donor. 

“[I give blood] to help people and kind of for the food,” Ryan Arvanitis, junior, said. 

Though helping others is usually the main reason people give blood, every blood drive has food for those participating, which certainly does not hurt in the recruiting process. If students do not want to give blood but still want to help, they can volunteer to help work the blood drives. 

“[Volunteering] is a great community service opportunity and also you get to help lots of people,” Andreas Turner, sophomore volunteer, said. 

While the season of horror has begun, blood is used for much more than a scary Halloween decoration. Anyone interested in giving blood should be on the lookout for the Red Cross blood drives. Etowah hosts many throughout the school year, and anyone’s blood could be used to save a life.