On August 29th 2019, CSU had their first blood drive of the fall semester. The Red Cross came to the Davidson Student Center in the Columbus Room. From 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., students and faculty had the opportunity to donate blood. The process was approximately 45 minutes long: 15 minutes to wait, 15 minutes to answer questions, and 15 minutes dedicated to the actual process of giving blood. However, someone could shorten their wait time by obtaining a rapid pass from the Red Cross website. The website allows you to answer the questions beforehand and get a QR code for the worker to scan; it is about 40 questions and takes less than five minutes to fill out.

   According to the Servant Leadership volunteer, 30 people had signed up; ten of those people actually gave blood, eight to ten people were walk-ins. One of those donors was a freshman business major, Angel Summerville. When asked why she came to participate in the event she said, “I’ve already donated five times before. I saw the sign and said ‘why not?’” Angel also shared two important pieces of information for people who wanted to donate blood: “Eat first, and it doesn’t hurt that bad, though needles have never bothered me anyway.” 

   So, if you missed out on the most recent blood drive, there will be more. Always be on the lookout for flyers and CSU’s social media pages. If you don’t want to wait for the next opportunity on campus, you can go to redcrossblood.org to find dates and locations that work best with your schedule. “Every drop of blood is a gift of life,” so anytime you can donate blood—even if it is just one time—you can have a positive impact on someone somewhere forever.