Members of Iowa State Blood Drive committees believe the opportunity to save not only one life but potentially three lives should be incentive enough to donate blood.

The Iowa State Blood Drive will take place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday in the Great Hall of the Memorial Union. It is open to ISU students and faculty, along with members of the Ames community.

This semester’s theme for the blood drive is Blood Drive Bootcamp. Each day of the drive will honor a different branch of the military. Pierce Fieldsend, junior in political science and one of the three co-directors of the blood drive, said members of the military came to speak to members of the various blood drive committees.

Fieldsend said the military members told many stories about life-changing experiences that they had witnessed and experienced. The members of the military further stressed the importance of blood donations because they know firsthand the power of a single donation.

“I think the reason it’s so impactful is there is no substitute for it,” said Tarin Phillips, senior in kinesiology and another co-director. “There’s not a medication that you can get that will have the same effect, and it comes directly from people willing to give part of themselves to someone else.”

Phillips said the Iowa State Blood Drive committees work throughout the year with various blood centers throughout the state to ensure that the drive is successful.

Both Fieldsend and Phillips stressed that the blood needs to be distributed to different blood centers to reach the largest amount of people possible to benefit from the donations, and not just an isolated area.

Last fall, the blood drive had about 2,500 donors, which was one of the largest turnouts ever at Iowa State. The turnout is expected to be slightly smaller this spring because of the timing of the drive, but the co-directors stressed that every donation matters.

“They say that every donation of blood saves three lives,” Fieldsend said. “So you think about that and you have the amount of people that we have donating and save a lot of lives.”

Although the committee members see many people who are hesitant to donate, they encourage all students and faculty, along with committee members to come in and volunteer at the very least. The blood drive saw more than 700 volunteers last semester, and they are hoping that number continues to grow, Phillips said.

Both Phillips and Fieldsend said they see many people who are scared of needles and passing out, along with people who are scared of the unknown if they have not donated before.

Fieldsend said anyone who takes care of their body in the days leading up to the drive and anyone who can overcome a few seconds of pain should donate.

“If you can get past the five to 10 minutes of donating and really see the impact you’re having and learn about the stories of people who have really need that pint of blood … I think it strongly outweighs the pain,” Phillips said.