The Student Government Association and Houchin Community Blood Bank would like to invite students to “save a life” by taking part in the National Cesar E. Chavez Blood Drive Challenge at Bakersfield College on March 7-8.
Hoping to build on the success of last year’s blood drive, this year’s drive will be a two-day event, a first for BC.
“We’ve been doing a blood drive for years here and last year’s was the most successful year we’ve had,” said Will Chandler, SGA legislative liaison. “So we said ‘Why not do two days to have double the impact and save more lives?’”
This will be the first time Houchin has done a two-day blood drive, and Chandler says that while they have lofty goals, he is confident that BC will come through.
“We’re hoping to get 200-plus donors a day over the two days,” he said. “It’s open to faculty as well as students, so we want teachers to donate. We want staff to donate. It’s a good opportunity to save a lot of lives.”
This year, the SGA wants to encourage BC’s clubs to turn out to donate.
“We want to get as much student involvement as possible,” said Chandler. “So we are going to have incentives for clubs that sign people up and get people to donate.”
Additionally, donors will receive free T-shirts while supplies last, free pizza and water.
Staff members from Houchin will be in the Fireside Room of the Campus Center screening potential donors from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on March 7, and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on March 8. After answering some questions to ensure that they are eligible to donate, donors will board one of Houchin’s mobile collection buses.
Potential donors need to be at least 17 years old with photo identification and weigh at least 110 pounds. It is also recommended that donors eat a meal at least three hours before.
Chandler would like to encourage people that aren’t sure if they are eligible to give blood to at least ask.
“A lot of people think they can’t give blood because they are diabetic or whatever,” he said. “When oftentimes, they can.”
Information provided by Houchin states that persons with diabetes and high blood pressure are still eligible to donate as long as those conditions are under control.