At the Schindler Elevator plant, employees roll up their sleeves every day to build escalators sent all around the world.
For several hours Wednesday, many of them took a break to have blood drawn from their arms to help save lives. Lizzie Phipps, a rising senior from Hobbton High School (HHS), hosted a blood drive at the facility in Clinton with the assistance of The Blood Connection.
“I’m really thankful for the people who took their time to donate,” Phipps said. “It’s really important to try to impact the community. Not everyone likes to get stuck by a needle. For them to work up the courage to help support me, it’s pretty big.”
More than 50 bags of blood were donated during the day. Tim Warren, an employee of Schindler Elevator, was one of the donors who gave a pint during the day.
“Unfortunately, people have accidents and their people and kids getting hurt,” Warren said, a bandage on his arm. “You never know. It’s a good way to help the community.
The Blood Connection distributes to counties throughout North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. Some of the partners include University of North Carolina Healthcare, WakeMed Health and the Greenville Health System.
Jillian Anthony, donor relations representative for The Blood Connection, showed appreciated to Phipps for her organizing the drive. She also thanked the teenager for thinking about others, especially being a youth.
“She did a fantastic job setting all of this up,” Anthony said. “It’s great to have all of these people donate. We have not done much in this area. Now that we have, it’s going to be nice to have people know who we are and what we do. We’re planning to have another drive here as well. We hope to keep coming back.”
Phipps idea to bring a drive to Schindler Elevator started at her school.
At HHS, four blood drives are held during the year through the Health Occupations Students of America — Future Health Professionals. With a local chapter at school, the purpose of the organization is to help students prepare for careers in the field. Phipps serves on the blood drive committee and spent time meeting professionals outside of HHS.
For Wednesday’s drive, she selected Schindler, where her father works. Along with employees at the facility, many other community members showed up to donate blood.
“Through working at the school and at the blood drive I was researching and found out that in the U.S. alone, each day we use 32,000 pints of blood,” Phipps noted.
Phipps was glad to make a contribution to that total. For her work, Phipps will be awarded a scholarship associated with The Blood Connection.
She recently earned the Governor’s Award for Volunteer Service, signed by North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and was honored by the Town of Newton Grove with a proclamation. During the year, she enjoys spending time as a volunteer at Rolling Ridge Assisted Living. A few years ago, she created “Sock for Seniors” to collect gifts for local nursing homes.
“With my community service projects, I’m always trying to find another way to help,” Phipps said.
