When Stacy Parkes showed up to donate Wednesday morning at the Meridian Community College blood drive, she was fearless even though it was her first time to give blood.

“I don’t feel like I have the right to be nervous,” said Parkes, who serves as QEP Assessments Coordinator for MCC. “Last year, my daughter had two open heart surgeries after she was born, the first at eight days old. Someone’s blood donation helped her, so I guess I am repaying that favor by donating my blood to help someone else who will have a need for it.”

Parkes’ daughter, Hope, has hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a congenital heart defect that requires multiple open-heart surgeries. She is doing well and will turn one next month.

MCC’s Campus Life division sponsored the two-day blood drive in part to recognize January as National Blood Donor Month. Two blood drives are held on campus each semester.

Sixty-five MCC faculty, staff, students and community residents took part in the drive, held Tuesday and Wednesday. Each donor received a T-shirt provided by Mississippi Blood Services and a $5 gift card to either Subway or McDonalds.

“It is important for MCC to raise awareness about blood donations because ‘community’ is our middle name, and we take that very seriously,” said Le Anne Motes, coordinator of Campus Life. “One pint of blood can be divided into different components and can potentially save up to three lives.”

Mississippi Blood Services uses an average of 250 to 300 pints of blood each day to keep hospitals stocked, according to Dana Brohaugh, the college’s Mississippi Blood Services representative.

Mississippi Blood tries to keep a week’s supply, or about 1,500 units, on hand at all times. During the winter season, from Christmas through the month of February, the stock of donated blood usually drops to below 1,000 units due to seasonal illnesses and inclement weather keeping donors away, Brohaugh noted.

“You never know when a tragedy can strike, and MCC wants to be sure we are doing our part to maintain what the citizens of Mississippi need,” Motes said.

William Alan Bracken, 22, of Meridian, made his first blood donation in fall 2016 when he was a freshman. He has donated every blood drive since then and has given more than a gallon. His blood type is O positive, the most common blood type.

“I always donate so I can give back to the community,” said Bracken, a psychology major who has completed MCC and is finishing his degree at Mississippi State University-Meridian. He still works part time in the MCC Campus Life division. “And I always encourage others to donate because blood drives are what fuel the blood supply in our healthcare system.”