ROBERTSDALE, Ala. — The American Red Cross will hold a blood drive on Saturday, July 24 at the Elsanor Community Center, but what makes this event so special is the person organizing it.

Marisa Fisher is a 15-year-old sophomore at Robertsdale High School and will be organizing the blood drive. She’s using this opportunity to give back to the community, but by participating, she’ll be entered into a drawing for a scholarship given by the Red Cross.

“If I can get 35 donors, I’ll be entered into a regional drawing for a $1,000 scholarship. If I get 50 donors, it goes up to $2,000,” Marisa said.

The drawing will take place in September and the winner will be selected from similar participants across Alabama, Florida, Mississippi and Georgia.

Marisa first heard about this opportunity through her mother Mary Fisher, who works at the South Baldwin Medical Center.

“When she told me about it, I felt this would be an interesting challenge because it’s something to do other than sitting at home doing nothing,” Marisa said.

Raising awareness for this event hasn’t been easy. She has spent the last few weeks gathering door prizes and preparing posters advertising the blood drive.

“It’s kind of hard keeping it all organized,” she said. “I’ve got to keep up with all the names of the people who register and their e-mail addresses.”

These records have to be kept so the Red Cross knows how many people plan on attending the blood drive so Marisa can get credit.

The Red Cross will provide t-shirts for the blood drive. They’re also holding a drawing for a free round of golf at a Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail course.

This isn’t the first community service project Marisa has lead.

In 2007, after the Enterprise tornado, she spent a week raising money to send bottles of water for the disaster relief effort while she was a student at Elsanor Elementary.

“We collected money, took the water to Enterprise and helped with some of the clean up.” she said. “Then the next week we raised more money, bought more water and went back with more people to help the next weekend.”

Marisa is in the band at Robertsdale High School and plays the flute and the piccolo. In her spare time, she also enjoys singing and dancing and says her friends call her “Bubbly” because of her spirited personality.

The blood drive is July 24 from 9 am until 2 pm and will be held at the Elsanor Community Center. Marisa’s mother Mary is calling this blood drive a “community challenge event.”

“What we really want is for local fire departments and churches to get involved and compete against each other to see who can bring out the most donors,” Mary Fisher said. “In the end, we’re simply trying to raise awareness of an issue in this area.”

If you want to register to donate blood, call 947-2776 or by e-mail at maryfisher17@hotmail.com. Registration is not necessary, but encouraged. Reminders will be given the day before the event for those who register.