Temple Welcomes The American Red Cross Blood Drive

Temple students became modern day super heroes at The American Red Cross Blood Drive. Students took time out of their day to preserve life through blood donations. Students contributed to the thousands of lives saved daily and the approximate 4.5 million lives saved each year.

Temple’s Student Center welcomed The American Red Cross for a blood drive. Students took time between classes to donate blood and contribute to a great cause. Appointments were recommended, but walk-in’s were also encouraged.

Every year, thousands of student leaders across the country organize American Red Cross blood drives at their schools.Temple’s Student Interfaith Multicultural Society also known as SIMS partnered with the foundation. I spoke with Vice President of SIMS, Min Lee, about the purpose of partnership with The American Red Cross.

“As SIMS, we’re trying to help American Red Cross to recruit people as blood donors. The purpose is to help gathering more people coming from different diversities like religious belief.”

Before donating, students filled out medical forms to see if they were eligible to participate. To be eligible for a donation, donors must be healthy, at least 17 years old, and weigh a minimum of 110 pounds.

After previous attempts,Temple sophomore, Sara Moore, was happy to finally be able to donate.

“It was my first time donating blood,” said Moore. “I was always sick or not, you know, eligible to do it.”

“I gave blood two years ago for the first time,” said Temple senior, Seth Daniels. “It helps a lot of people and it’s a small part of the day.”

The actual donation took between eight to ten minutes. Students lied comfortable on donating tables during the process.

Each student’s donation will be used to save three lives, contributing to the twenty thousand saved everyday by blood transfusions. Blood donations help millions of patients in need and donors are always needed. If you would like to find out how you can help save lives through blood donation, log on to www.redcrossblood.org and get involved.