Each year, around this time, GC partners with Fraternity and Sorority Life to host its annual blood drive. This past week, the event was held on Tuesday, April 2, and Wednesday, April 3, in Donahoo Lounge. Anyone in the Baldwin County area was able to donate their blood to the American Red Cross or volunteer to help pass out flyers promoting the event around campus. According to the Red Cross, one blood donation has the capacity to save up to three lives, making these annual blood drives important to campus.
Fiona Sullivan is a nursing major at GC. She chose to donate her blood because she thinks it is one of the easiest ways you can help others in need.
“This cause, in particular, is really important to me because in my future career, I’ll probably see firsthand the effects of not having enough blood in emergency situations,” Sullivan said.
According to the Red Cross, approximately every two seconds, someone in the United States is in need of blood. This makes blood drives very important, as it is a constant need in the U.S. The blood donated in the drives helps go toward helping people battling blood diseases and cancer, burn victims and more. Planning and executing a blood drive is not easy and often requires much preparation and planning ahead of time.
Ashley Copeland is the director of community engagement and service at GC.
“On their end, they primarily work on staffing for the event, and as for us, we provide assistance with room reservation, reserving parking and just getting word out to the community,” Copeland said.
Brian Fern works for the Red Cross and has overseen a lot of these blood drives that have been held at GC. According to Fern, the first blood drive held at GC was on Jan. 18, 1990, and has since then been held periodically at the school. The Give Center began coordinating with the Red Cross in 1997, but it was not until 2002, when Paul Sedor became assistant Give Center director, that he began to head the mission. According to Fern, since the first blood drive was held on campus in the ‘90s, 15,456 units have been donated to the Red Cross, coming out to approximately 50,000 lives saved.
Asher Lybarger is a junior ahetoric major at GC as well as lead volunteer and event coordinator for the Give Center.
“I chose to donate blood for those who aren’t able to in hopes that when I need it, others will do the same for me,” Lybarger said.
The Red Cross requires their donors to be at least 16 years old and a minimum of 110 pounds. They also ask that people only donate every 56 days, making their maximum donation limit being six times a year.
“The Red Cross picks the dates for the blood drives based on their schedule and then makes sure that it’s enough days away from a recent blood drive in that area so if someone wanted to donate at both of them, they could,” Copeland said.
The Red Cross has also made good health a donor-eligibility rule, as it protects both the donor and the patient who is to receive the transfusion of blood. They also have an app, the Blood Donor American Red Cross app, that allows its donors to track where their blood goes. This gives them the opportunity to track their donations’ journey as it travels toward a hospital, where it will help a person in need.
The GC blood drive brings together members of the community for a good cause and is an event that will continue to help those in need, one donation at a time.
