If you’re eligible to give blood, and you can make it, we strongly encourage you to give blood for Hannah today.

A blood drive is being held from 1 to 7 p.m. Wednesday at King’s Fork Middle School, 350 Kings Fork Road.

The blood drive is in honor of Hannah Goetz, an Isle of Wight teen who recently had a double lung transplant after her lungs were removed because of a bad infection from pneumonia.

Since the start of Hannah’s ordeal, her family and friends have been donating in her honor when they get the chance, and now they are opening it to the wider community and encouraging everyone to donate.

Transplant patients like Hannah aren’t the only people who need blood. Many people think of surgery and trauma patients needing it, also, but it doesn’t end there. Premature babies, burn patients, cancer sufferers and many with chronic diseases are in need of blood, and the only way to meet this need is through the donation of eligible people with a heart to help others.

Every two seconds, someone in the United States needs blood. There’s a good chance that you or a loved one has had or will need a blood transfusion at some point.

Walk-ins are being accepted at today’s blood drive. If you can’t make it, here are some other upcoming blood drives where you can give the gift of life:

• First Baptist Church, 237 N. Main St.; 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Aug. 24
• Westminster Reformed Presbyterian Church, 3488 Godwin Blvd.; 2 to 7 p.m. Aug. 27
• Chesapeake Square Mall, 4200 Portsmouth Blvd., Chesapeake; 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Aug. 30, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Aug. 31, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sept. 2
• St. Therese Church, 4137 Portsmouth Blvd., Chesapeake; 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sept. 1
• Chick-fil-A, 1018 N. Main St.; 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sept. 3