Shanks heading up blood drive through Red Cross

• Huntington graduate Elijah Shanks is hosting a blood drive, August 5 at Huntington High School.
• The blood drive, from 2-7 p.m., is a part of the Red Cross’ ‘Leaders Save Lives’ program.
• To help Shanks reach his goal, call 1-800-RED CROSS or visit redcrossblood.org.

CHILLICOTHE – At Huntington High School, Elijah Shanks was a leader on the basketball court for four consecutive years.

During his successful career with the Huntsmen, Shanks scored 1,032 points — becoming just the 12th player in Huntington history to hit the 1,000 point mark.

After a senior season that featured the 6-foot-5 center averaging 17.2 points and 11.2 rebounds per game, the Huntsmen bid adieu to their star player. However, Shanks isn’t done giving back to his Huntington community just yet.

Before heading to Northern Kentucky University, where he’ll major in athletic training, Shanks will host a blood drive through the Red Cross’ ‘Leaders Save Lives’ program, from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday inside the Huntington Elementary Gym.

“High school and college students that participate in blood drives are the biggest suppliers for blood during the school year,” Shanks said. “Those numbers obviously drop during the summer. The ‘Leaders Save Lives’ program encourages community minded 16 to 24 year olds to host blood drives throughout the summer months. I’ve always been active with Huntington’s FCCLA and we always do community service projects. We did our first blood drive two years ago at our school and I got really interested.”

The year after, Shanks stumbled across the Red Cross’ high school leadership program online — an incentive based program that gives students the opportunity to reach multiple levels based on the amount of blood they give. Honors include possible scholarship opportunities and red chords for graduation.

“I told our FCCLA adviser that we needed to do two blood drives so that we could get some of the seniors in my graduating class a scholarship opportunity and a red chord opportunity,” Shanks said. “That’s how I really got involved. Then I met Lisa Wrights, an account manager at the Red Cross, and she really showed me how to get involved and join the program.”

Shanks’ goal for Wednesday’s blood drive is to collect 26 pints of blood or roughly 35 people participating.

“Right now, I have scheduled 29 people,” Shanks said. “There are many former athletes that are already signed up to help including Alisha Long (volleyball, softball), former Huntington athlete Jackie Kellough and Austin Barker (football, basketball).”

Hosting an event like this isn’t simply a hobby for Shanks but rather something he is passionate about.

“A little known but kind of scary is fact is that only three percent of the U.S. population donates blood,” Shanks said. “The other 97 percent either uses blood products or has someone close to them who uses blood products by the age of 72. So we have just three percent of our nation donating to the other 97. That’s a really big difference. That’s why we push to get as many donations as we can.

“I really enjoy volunteering. And coming from a district like Huntington, I’m very fortunate. I’ve always done well in school and I love my community. I really enjoy giving back and I really want everyone from my school to have the same experience that I did. I want to help others have that same type of experience.”

To help Shanks reach his goal, those interested can schedule an appointment to donate blood by calling 1-800-RED CROSS or visit redcrossblood.org with a sponsor code of LSLHuntingtonHS.

All individuals who are at least 17 years old (16 with parental permission) and meet height and weight requirements (at least 110 pounds based on height) and are generally in good health may be eligible to donate.

“A lot of people think it hurts to give blood and stuff like that and they’re a bit confused,” Shanks said. “So it’s kind of hard to convince people that it’s a great act. But it is. It saves lives. If you’re healthy and you can give, you really should because there’s so many people out there that need it. The more you do it, the more you get comfortable with it and the more people you’re able to help.”

dwebb@chillicothegazette.com

Twitter: @dw1509