Amelia Chen stopped by the Louis Room Wednesday to give blood as part of the Student Blood Services’s annual Winter Blood Drive. The Weinberg sophomore has given blood every quarter since her freshman year and she doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon.
“It’s just something you can do,” she said. “You don’t have to spend money to do it, so why not give it to people who need it in the future?”
Wednesday began the group’s annual two-day Winter Blood Drive. The blood drive will continue today in the Louis Room from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Student Blood Services partnered with LifeSource, Chicago’s largest blood center, to host the Winter Blood Drive. The two groups come together to hold two mini drives and three larger drives every year. SBS has planned a mini drive for Apr. 9 and a larger spring drive for May 21 and 22.
Maureen Crowley, LifeSource’s account manager, said LifeSource has worked with Northwestern since she started working for the center in 2003.
“Northwestern is in our top 20 donor group and one of our most successful accounts that we have in Chicago,” she said. “When somebody donates blood they can help save three lives plus their own, possibly.”
Crowley said donors receive a free mini-physical so that LifeSource knows the donors’ iron level, blood pressure, temperature and pulse at the time of donation. LifeSource will later send donors a card with their blood type on it.
Weinberg junior Hallie Ryan, the co-president of Student Blood Services, said her goal for the winter drive is to bring in 60 units, where one unit is one pint of blood. By the end of the day Wednesday, at least 46 units had been donated, Crowley said.
As an incentive to participate in the blood drive, donors were entered into a raffle to win a shopping spree, and their donor receipt will serve as a coupon for a free drink at Jamba Juice.
But for some students, they donated because it was just something they grew up doing.
“My dad and mom always give blood so I just picked up on their example,” John Kinsella said. The McCormick freshman said he donated blood in high school and also attended the Halloween drive, where 120 units were donated.
Organizers warned, however, that not everyone can give blood. Ryan said usually one third of students are not able to give blood for a variety of reasons.
According to Crowley, students who have traveled to specific countries in Asia, Africa, South America and the Caribbean are unable to give blood because of possible exposure to malaria. Students are unable to donate for at least a year from the day they arrived back in the United States.
Kristin Aguero, a self-proclaimed veteran blood donor, said she was disappointed she was unable to donate blood this year because she spent winter break in the Dominican Republic.
“I have plenty of blood,” the Weinberg sophomore said. “Other people need it more than I do.”
Communication sophomore Erica Warnock donated blood for her third time on Wednesday.
“I feel like there’s not a lot of time to make a big impact being in college,” she said. “This is just a really easy way to take an hour of your time and really make a difference.”
Reach Alexandra Finkel at [email protected].
