MARYSVILLE – Shelayne Wicker believes in giving blood.

“I know a lot of people who have had surgery,” and I wanted to be able to help, she said Wednesday.

Shelayne also believes in getting a good education. She plans to attend Easter Washington University or the University of Puget Sound to become a physical therapist after her upcoming senior year at Lakewood High School.

Of course, money for college can be hard to come by.

So she is combining these two interests by putting on a blood drive Aug. 20 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Shoultes-Marysville Gospel Hall.

The key is, to get the $500 nonprofit Bloodworks Northwest scholarship, she has to have 50 people donate blood.

Shelayne said she is a little worried about that because it’s still summer and people are still out and about on weekends, although she tried to schedule it closer to the start of school Sept. 7.

But her church often has blood drives, and she’s emailing and calling those who have donated in the past to try to get them out. She’s also let people know where she, her dad and mom work, along with putting up a sign at Starbucks and letting people at other churches know about the blood drive.

Shelayne said she tried to donate blood when she was 15, but was told she was too young. “So when I was 16 I did it as many times as possible,” she said.

Shelayne said Bloodworks Northwest, previously known as the Puget Sound Blood Center, helped out after the shooting in Florida, and it started the scholarship program to get “as many people as possible to donate blood in case something huge happens.”

To sign up for an appointment email shelayne9@hotmail.com or call 425-231-2511.