By: Isabel Anderson, Cascades Communications Manager

Evie Evans is a sweet and thoughtful 7th grader at All Saints Parish School in Portland, Oregon. When she’s not in school or spending time with friends, she’s out tumbling at gymnastic competitions. Evie’s class was assigned a community service school project and she immediately thought of the Red Cross. The project is intended to teach the students how become a supportive and self-less community member. Evie’s grandmother, Eve Snelling, after whom she was named, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2021 and received multiple blood transfusions throughout 2022 before she passing away. Gina, Evie’s mom, says blood transfusions “really gave Eve time to seek treatment and adjust to the diagnosis before she realized the cancer was untreatable”. Evie added, “it gave us time with her we wouldn’t have had otherwise.” When asked why people should donate blood, the answer is simple to Evie, “if you needed it, you would feel so grateful for the people that helped you because you know it’s such a big sacrifice”. Evie and her family felt immense gratitude for the blood donors that allowed for her grandmother to live longer and knew she wanted to give back to her community in a way that has impacted her profoundly.

In January, Evie set out on her mission to organize an American Red Cross blood drive at her school during Red Cross month. After many daunting cold calls, emails asking for sign-ups and even an interview with KGW-TV, she has almost reached her goal of 50 donors scheduled to donate at her blood drive. That said, she still needs your help!

Evie’s blood drive will take place at All Saints Parish School at 3847 NE Glisan Portland, OR from 9am to 2pm on March 1st. You can schedule your appoint by visiting redcrossblood.org and enter the sponsor code “AllSaintsParishPDX” to support Evie’s project.