Poston Butte High School Earns Division Award in AZ Blood Drive Challenge

The students' accomplishments were honored by the Arizona Diamondbacks on May 2 at Chase Field in front of thousands of cheering fans. Just nint out of 204 schools earned a division award. Poston Butte received a championship banner on-field during pregame ceremonies.

Teen donations have more than doubled since the D-backs signed on as sponsors of the High School Blood Drive Challenge in 1998. "Working with Arizona's youth to instill outstanding community values is one of our major goals," team team President and CEO Derrick Hall. "We applaud their accomplishments and are delighted to honor them for saving lives." The D-backs donated 1,000 tickets to 126 award-winning schools to their May 2 game against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

With nearly 22,000 blood donations by the end of the school year, teens have retained their status as United Blood Services largest donor group for the 14th consecutive year. The 204 high schools participating in the blood drive challenge organized 514 blood drives across Arizona.

"High school donors are the top contributors to Arizona's blood supply," said Sid Lewis, Sr. Director of Donor Recruitment for United Blood Services Southwest Division. "One in every six blood transfusions comes from a teen in Arizona, far surpassing any other age group of donors."

Note: Poston Butte High School set a new record for themselves as well!  With 150 blood components (whole blood & plasma) being collected, they beat their old record of 147 set earlier this year in March. The goal for the May drive was 140.