Every year Russellville High School hosts the largest one-day blood drive in the state, and this year was no different, as RHS broke the record for the most pints collected in one day.

The goal was to collect 400 pints to break the record, and RHS ended up collecting 459 units of blood.

“Whenever I saw how much we ended up having donated, I just down and cried,” said Heather Boyd, sponsor of Russellville High School National Honor Society, which hosts the blood drive. “Everyone worked so hard to make that happen, and I am so proud of them.”

RHS broke the record for the largest blood drive in one day in Alabama and came in second in the Southeast, with only one school in Georgia being larger.

Boyd said a lot of community members came out to support the event, with turnout being a pretty even split among students, faculty and community members who donated blood.

Boyd said RHS is used to collecting about 350 pints of blood each time it hosts a blood drive, but this year she felt students had a new appreciation for trying to help others through seeing what RHS senior Jagger Mills has had to go through over the past year.

“Honestly I think Jagger and his story really gave a lot of them a new outlook on things and encouraged them to donate and want others to donate too,” Boyd said. “They don’t think of it as just giving blood any more. Instead they have an appreciation for what it means to give blood and how it could help someone like Jagger.”

The blood drive began at the school in 2003, with a total of 4,137 pints of blood being given.