Houchin Community Blood Bank held a Blood Drive on BC’s campus Nov. 22 between 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. near the math and science building to accept donations.

Donors were recommended to eat and drink lots of water before they donate, and to stay away from caffeine and fatty foods. With around 16 staff members on site, four inside the buses and 12 outside, Houchin was able to collect around 60 donations during the event.

“It wasn’t always like this,” explained Yessica Diaz-Conti, head of the event for Houchin, “Before COVID, we could get around 116 donations with the staff available.”

Donors must show a photo ID and fill out a health questionnaire before they can become eligible to give blood.

Afterwards, they are escorted inside one of the buses and one pint of blood was drawn. Donors were then given refreshments and then qualified for Houchin’s promotional event. For this blood drive, the promotional event included a raffle for a $25 Studio Movie Grill gift card and one of their mystery boxes that range from $5-500 in gift cards with locations such as Starbucks, Footlocker, Target, etc.