Community Corner
DECA Students Organize Blood and Coat Drives
Club will host their second student blood drive at Patchogue-Medford High School on Friday.
Students in ’s Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA) organization have run several drives to help others this year.
The group has already held a blood drive and a coat drive, and is preparing to hold their second student blood drive at Patchogue-Medford High School on Friday.
“The blood drive started because I thought it was a good undertaking for my DECA club, a good community service project,” said Donna Johnson, one of the club advisors for the PMHS chapter of DECA.
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The blood drives are coordinated through the New York Blood Center. According to Johnson, ten to fifteen people were on staff for their first event held in December from the NYBC, with approximately a dozen student volunteers from DECA assisting.
According to DECA’s website, the organization prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality and management in high schools and colleges around the globe. Founded in 1946, DECA is a non-profit association of students, teachers and administrators. Split into two divisions, the High School Division includes 185,000 members in 5,000 schools and the Collegiate Division includes 15,000 member in 200 colleges.
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Senior Joe Loria got involved with the organization from taking business courses at the high school.
“I plan on going to school for marketing. Mrs. Cabrera had asked me to participate [with the blood drive] and I thought it was a great cause,” Loria said. He said that 80 pints of blood were donated at their first blood drive.
Senior Shaakirah Watkins said that she is glad to be working on an event that can help others.
”There are so many people who need blood transfusions, so I think that what we do here is just a really good thing,” Watkins said.
DECA also organized recently held their annual coat and jacket drive for those in need as part of its community service project. This year DECA students collected over 50 gently used coats, jackets and sweatshirts and donated them to the "Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Long Island".
Check the for highlights from DECA’s December blood drive and their recent coat drive.
