Photo: Deborah Pfeiffer

A group of Osoyoos Secondary School students did their part to help save lives, Wednesday.

They bused to Penticton and rolled up their sleeves at a blood donor clinic in Penticton.

The school is the first in the Okanagan to donate as part of this year's nationwide, student-led challenge called Young Blood for Life.

"The program runs every year from Sept. 1 to May 31 to encourage high school students age 17-plus to come out and donate as a group," said Gail Voyer, territory manager for Canadian Blood Services.

According to Voyer, during the past six years, the program has collected 98,595 donations across Canada and has recruited 35,019 volunteers.

On Wednesday, teacher Peter Gajda showed up with 12 students to participate at the monthly clinic at the South Main Seniors' Drop-in Centre.

"If you look around this room, it's mostly an older demographic, so it's good to have fresh young donors," said Gajda, who has given blood since he was 18. "The second part is to get these kids to become global citizens."

After being screened, students spent about 15 minutes actually donating blood.

"I've never given blood before, but this is definitely a good cause," said Shayleen Gray, 17. "I feel as more people donate, the more chances people get."

To learn more go to: https://www.blood.ca/en/youngbloodforlife