Drive organizers are out for blood

Meggann Brown

Donors at the Spring Blood Drive get more by participating than just an opportunity to nab a cookie or get incentive points.

They get the chance to save a life.

Organizers of this week’s blood drive said they hope to have a large turnout. They said they expect 2,000 people to stop by and donate during the weeklong drive.

The ISU blood drive, which is held both in the fall and in the spring, has been a university tradition for more than 30 years. Blood centers that are scheduled to attend this week’s event include St. Luke’s Hospital of Des Moines, Mercy Medical Center of Des Moines, Mary Greeley Medical Center of Ames, and other centers from Ottumwa, Omaha, Des Moines and Waterloo.

Scott Steffes, co-chairman for the Spring Blood Drive, said donating blood is an important and noble effort.

“Every donation helps up to three people,” said Steffes, sophomore in architecture.

The ISU blood drive is essential for helping out the centers with their supplies, Steffes said. “They expect to have this blood because it gets distributed all over Iowa,” he said.

Steffes said Iowa State’s drive surpasses those of other universities. “We exceed other schools who only get between 300 and 500 donors,” he said.

Drive organizers are pulling out all the stops to get people to help out with the effort by giving out points and sweets to participants. This year, they hope to attract a more diverse group of ISU students.

“We have a great turnout from the greek system, so our focus this year is to get the residence halls and community to come and volunteer or donate,” Steffes said.

Organizers posted flyers in residence halls to encourage participation. While greek-system members receive points for Greek Week if they donate, residence-hall students also snatch credit for their floors.

Even those who can’t donate themselves know the importance of the practice. Volunteer Kate Nelson said donating is imperative to helping out the community.

“I can’t donate myself, so this is my way of helping out,” said Nelson, sophomore in horticulture.

About 60 volunteers help out with the drive per day.

Volunteer Kathy Monen has been helping out with the ISU blood drive for about four years, and she agreed that it’s important for students to aid others in need.

“Students have such hectic schedules that they don’t have much time to help out, but this is a good way for the students to help out Iowa because it doesn’t take very long. The whole process … takes about a half an hour,” Monen said.

However, some students said they have other reasons for coming to the drive.

“I just come for the cookies,” joked Bill Ogier, senior in computer engineering. In actuality, he “came early to set an example for the rest of my fraternity brothers.”

Blood drive hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Thursday and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday.