Tristan Frisch is running a special blood drive to save lives.

The Boy Scout is hoping that by choosing this as his Eagle Scout project, he will honor his grandmother, Maryellen Engler, who died in 2020.

“I want to do this for my grandmother and to give back to the community,” said Frisch, who has been a Boy Scout with Troop 102 in Saylorsburg since 2019.

“She was a big part of his life,” Tristan’s mother, Candyann Frisch, said. “She took him to Country Junction’s pumpkin patch. They’d sit home and watch movies. She lived with us for about a year and helped me with the kids while my husband was deployed.”

Engler was a major support person in everything Tristan did.

During the last 10 years of her life, she was in and out of the hospital and needed more than 200 units of blood.

“There was a need for blood donors then, and there is a need for blood donors now,” said Tristan Frisch. “It was easy to choose this for my Eagle Scout project.”

Through a bit of research and planning, he partnered with Miller-Keystone Blood Centers, with various locations in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, to try to obtain 1,000 units by July 31.

Potential donors can schedule their blood donation by calling 1-800-223-6667 ext. 2 and mentioning Group ID 8944, or visit https://www.giveapint.org/event/tristans-eagle-scout-drive.

When registering online, the person must select group 8944 for the unit of blood to be credited to Frisch.

Twenty-one donors have registered so far, which has resulted in 17 units of blood.

Frisch was at Plainfield Township Volunteer Fire Company in Wind Gap on June 27, where he and some other Scouts helped run the cantina, an area where donors receive a snack and drink and are observed for any medical reaction after donating. The fire department has its own Group ID, so this blood drive did not count toward Frisch’s goal.

Later this summer, he is moving with his family to Germany, where his dad will begin a new job with the Department of Defense. Tristan will be a junior in high school.

“My friends are excited to help me with my Eagle Scout project, though a few are a bit squeamish,” he said.