On Feb. 6-8, the Dee Events Center and the Shepherd Union building welcomed the American Red Cross for a blood drive. The blood drive offered appointments to donors, but accepted walk-ins whenever possible. With the walk-in option, students who were unaware of the event were able to participate when passing the event locations.

“A lot of people just drop in, which is really cool,” Jordan Magda, a phlebotomist and drive lead with the Red Cross, said. “I was here at this place yesterday as the drive lead, and I think we’ve surpassed our goal. We’ve been busy the whole day, so I assume we’re on track to meet our goal again, which is cool.”

Aside from numerous goals regarding the amount of blood collected, the blood drive also hoped to raise awareness.

“Making our students aware of the need for blood and giving them the chance to donate at school will hopefully create lifelong blood donors,” blood drive organizer McLayne Arnold said.

The drive prioritized a smooth experience for participants, from the screening to getting blood drawn.

“The actual donation generally takes 10 minutes or less,” Magda said. “The whole thing, you know the screening portion and everything, you’re here for about 30 minutes.”

Donations from the blood drive will go to patients who are in need of blood transfusions. After donating, you can track your blood and get notified when it has been used for a transfusion.

At the event, participants were able to talk to a representative from the organization “Be the Match,” which compiles a registry of volunteers willing to donate bone marrow or blood stem cells to patients with blood cancers or other diseases. This registry helps patients to find people with whom their bone marrow or blood stem cells match, in the case that they don’t have a match within their own family.

“I know that when we come out to the universities that [Be the Match] will generally be here too, because they have a higher success rate among university students,” Magda said.