The Columbia community and MU students participated in Greek Week’s annual blood drive, which kicked off at 11 a.m. April 14 in the MU Student Recreation Complex.
The Greek Week blood drive committee’s goal was to collect 1,800 pints of blood over the course of the drive, which is equivalent to roughly 600 pints each day, committee member Emily Lewis said.
After three days, a total of 1,605 pints were collected. Last year’s Greek Week blood drive collected 1,798 pints, [according to an April 13, 2014, Maneater article](https://www.themaneater.com/stories/2014/4/13/greek-week-blood-drive-surpasses-goal/).
Steering committee member Courtney Kiley said in an email that the decrease could have been due to the weather that week.
“Blood drives are different year to year with turnout and how many units collected,” Kiley said. “We think that the beautiful weather we had last week probably played a factor in our turnout. It’s hard to convince people to come sit inside a gym for an hour and give blood when the weather is so nice and they can be outside doing other things.”
Kiley said the biggest way to make changes to the blood drive in future years is through recruitment.
“Next year I imagine the committee will just have to be creative when it comes to finding new ways to recruit people,” she said. “Mizzou is a huge campus and finding ways to reach out to the community as a whole can be hard, but if you can figure out a successful and new way to do that, more people will be more likely to donate.”
While the numbers were lower than expected for the committee, American Red Cross Communications Manager Dan Fox said it was a “tremendous amount.” Each pint is said to save three lives.
The blood collected during the MU Spring Blood Drive will help patients in the region. Fox said this includes Columbia, St. Louis, Kansas City and other surrounding areas.
The first step at the blood drive was to sign in and read through a booklet stating what one could expect during their donation. Next, Fox said volunteers received what was “essentially a mini physical” as staff members asked questions and ran a few tests.
“All these things are to make sure that you are not going to have any adverse effect when you give blood, and help ensure that the blood you donate is healthy to give to somebody in need,” Fox said.
Fox said the Red Cross is proud to work with MU, including the University of Missouri hospital system.
“It gives the students an opportunity to donate blood and also volunteer their time,” he said. “It gives them an opportunity to help out American Cross and it is something we appreciate.”
Participants deemed eligible to give blood were given a variety of snacks and a free T-shirt.
Sigma Kappa member Allison Cotton took time out of her schedule to donate blood April 15. This is her sixth time giving blood, she said. She previously donated during the past two Greek Weeks and three Mizzou Homecomings.
“I came as a part of Greek Week, but also I just really like to give in the first place,” Cotton said. “My dad used to give all of the time in college, so I am kind of following in his footsteps.”
Cotton said the process was fairly quick.
“They do a really good job of making sure you are super comfortable from start to finish, even the volunteers do,” she said. “It’s another great thing about it.”
Cotton said many Greek students participate in the blood drive, not only because it is a part of Greek Week, but it also does much for the community.
“Saving three lives is a really wonderful thing and it’s great that Greek Life promotes it,” she said. “I know that many of the groupings will go out of their way to get the community involved.”
Fox agreed that the community’s participation in the blood drive was a big help to the American Red Cross.
“We have hundreds of Mizzou students who have volunteered throughout the week helping us organize the blood drive, promote the blood drive and helping our donors get through the process,” he said. “We could not do it without these volunteers.”
Sigma Chi and Greek Week Royalty member Jonathan McGuff showed up to donate and build up his chapter’s points by working at the check-in booth.
“Today at the blood drive we are checking people in and out and making sure they have their refreshments,” McGuff said. “We also make sure everybody is having a good time, are informed about the process and are also looking at what we can do to make it better for the future.”
McGuff said the blood drive was so important for Greek Week because it was such a “unifying event.”
“It’s really impactful and it’s one thing that we all have in common, in terms of us being able to donate blood to save lives,” he said. “The Greek part is really meaningless at the end of the day, because it’s something that’s much larger than all of us.”
McGuff was one of many volunteers helping out at the blood drive.
“We could not do it without these people and we could not meet the demands of patients in our hospitals without these donors and volunteers,” Fox said.