On Friday, Feb. 28 the officers of the Interact club attended “A Celebration of Life” 2014 Luncheon and Awards Ceremony. The annual ceremony was held by the Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center in order to appreciate, celebrate and recognize all gold-level Commit for Life groups who achieve at least 100 donations per year.

The ceremony included narration by KHOU 11 News’ Mia Gradney who introduced the organization’s leaderships and speakers such as Chief Financial Officer of Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center, Melissa A. Fisher and Medical Director, Dr. Beth Hartwell.  Another key speaker was Tyler Dalme. Dalme spoke about his experience as a recipient of a total of 48 blood units after a life threatening accident which were collected at local blood drives, such as one of Bellaire’s three blood drives each year.

Special category award finalists were honored throughout the event which consisted of a three course luncheon located at the Hilton Americas-Houston hotel. Special categories awarded were those such as cooperation of the year, community advocate of the year, hospital of the year and high school of the year. Bellaire High School was a finalist for the 2014 award of high school of the year. Junior Hannah Kay, treasurer of Interact, attended the ceremony. “ I thought the ceremony was a really great opportunity for our club. It was an amazing opportunity to hear from the leaders of the organization that we dedicate our time to,” Kay said. “The whole event, especially the recipient speech, was very inspiring.”