American Red Cross Blood Drive

On Wednesday, March 19th, Alpha Kappa Psi hosted a blood drive through the American Red Cross on campus at Illinois State University. This is one of AKPsi's bigger service events each semester and the turnout increases as we continue to host.

This semester our fraternity coordinated the blood drive with another RSO on campus called Eta Sigma Gamma, which is a health education coed fraternity. We came together to promote the event with info tables, in the college of business and Schroeder, as well as hung flyers in the dorms and academic buildings. With only 5 days of encouraging people to donate, we were able to get a great amount of people to fill up our time slots and sign up as walk-ins.


What is the American Red Cross?

The American Red Cross is the nation’s largest blood collection organization, supplying approximately 40 percent of the blood and blood products used in our country. Blood donors play an integral role in the delivery of modern healthcare. Many lifesaving medical treatments and procedures involve blood transfusions and would not be possible without a safe and reliable blood supply. The Red Cross is also a leader in research and testing to protect the safety of the blood supply. On average, 3 lives are saved for every whole blood donor, which is why we were so passionate to encourage and promote this to new donors.

What was the best part about this Blood Drive?

It was a full day of students, faculty, and Bloomington/Normal residents in and out of ISU’s Bowling and Billiards Center donating for the American Red Cross. From set up to take down, it was a joy working with the nurses and staff the entire day, and we couldn’t have asked for a more helpful and friendly group. It was a great experience getting to coordinate this blood drive with Eta Sigma Gamma and learn more about what their RSO does on campus.

Our goal was 36 whole blood donors and 6 double red blood donors this semester. We met our goal of 6 double red blood donors and we were just one short with 35 whole blood donors. It was a great turn out and I couldn’t have asked for a better day. The most amazing part of the day was when these statistics were received, I also found out of the 41 donors, 10 were first time donors.

Everyone did a wonderful job volunteering and we would like to thank every individual who made the effort to come out and donate! To find out more information about blood drives in the area or the American Red Cross you can visit their website,  http://www.redcross.org/.


Blog post by: Kristin Ivan, Service chair

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