For the past 30 years, Taradale High School has had a strong link to the New Zealand Blood Service, with its students an established part of the donor programme.
But that all changed when the service closed its Napier centre last August - although for one group of students, that sparked a challenge and a determination to get the blood crew back to the school hall it had long called at through the years.
Yesterday, the plan sparked by teacher Elvira Wylie's social sciences class turned to reality, with 72 donors lining up to donate blood. Several teachers, as well as principal Stephen Hensman, joined the students who arrived to do their bit. The class had been carrying out a sustainability unit focusing on healthy communities, and part of that involved getting the school's long-standing blood donation programme back on track - although initially they came up against a few walls.
The students took a "what are we going to do about it?" stance and in August made contact with the blood service.
They had a sympathetic ear with the service's chief executive officer Fiona Ritsma being a former pupil of Taradale High.