USU wraps up the blood battle
The “blood battle” blood drive took place last week in the Taggart Student Center international lounge. All week the Red Cross worked with Utah State University Service Center to collect more blood donations then the rest of the colleges in the state combined.
“USU has been an incredible supporter at the American Red Cross,” said Kimberly Houk, the external communications manager for the Red Cross. “Utah State generally always donates the most blood.”
The drive brought in about 885 full bags of blood, including 101 Double Red donors. The amount of blood raised will save roughly 2,655 lives. The need for blood is large especially this year.
“There is actually a blood drought in Utah this year, which sounds a little weird,” Calder said. “They are really in need for blood especially different blood types and so it’s really great to have these where you can reach a large number of people that can come to one place and donate.”
The planning for the blood drive goes back months.
“I contacted the red cross as soon as I got elected back in February and we started coordinating our blood drive. They have a huge team that comes up and so we have to coordinate on our end and on their end,” said Leah Calder, USU/SA’s service vice president. “It takes a few months to get everything in place to make sure you have the scheduling of the ballroom and they’re on board too, so quite a little bit of time.”
However, Houk said that all of the work put in on the parts of USU and the Red Cross is an important investment.
“It’s a huge undertaking, but it’s very important that we get into college campuses and get them as lifelong donors,” Houk said.
The competition aspect adds another dimension to the blood drive.
“I want to win so badly, because it’s USU vs. the state and usually it’s Utah State against every other school combined and we still usually get more blood than they do,” Calder said. “So it’s a pretty awesome thing that we’re doing up here.”
The winner will not be announced for a few weeks because only USU has held their blood drive. BYU starts on Sept. 8 while Weber State and Westminster start on Sept. 9.
Overall 1,150 people either volunteered or donated for the week.
“We made a positive and impacting statement about the Service Center as a whole,” Calder said. “The director of the Red Cross in Utah and the other personnel involved have commended us on the smoothest run Blood Battle ever.”
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