The Houchin Blood Bank raised pulses on the Bakersfield College Panorama campus not only for the annual Cesar E. Chavez Blood Drive, but also at a chance at winning five hundred dollars.

With the Houchin blood bank buses parked in front of the Campus Center on March 11 and 12, hundreds of students donated their blood in support of the much-needed blood types O positive, O negative, AB positive, and AB negative.

Nursing student Jennifer Edwards, 27, stated that this was her first time donating blood at BC for the Houchin Blood Bank.

“I’m O negative, and being O negative means that people with that specific blood type are the only people who can donate to newborn babies,” Edwards said, “I love knowing that my blood could save someone’s little miracle.”

SGA member, Clayton Fowler stated that SGA’s involvement regarding the blood drive was to support the recruitment of the BC community to donate blood. “We try to get more involvement from the student body to give blood for a great cause.”

SGA member Kyle Mann said, “We also used the event to hand out information on upcoming events at BC as well as to get student feedback for the smoking petition we’ve been passing around.”

Those who donated blood received a free T-shirt from Houchin Blood Bank.