IU brings home 'Blood Bucket'

Participants in this year's IU-Purdue Blood Donor Challenge set an all-time record, with donors from both universities giving a total of 7,669 pints of blood.\nThe total amount beat last year's record of 5,164 units.\nThis year's competition marked the ninth annual challenge between the two universities, said IU Alumni Association Senior Vice President and Chief Operation Officer John Hobson. \nWinning by a margin of 1,473 units of blood, IU prevailed for the first time in three years. IU donated 4,571 pints of blood, while Purdue gave 3,098. Purdue leads the annual competition six to three, Hobson said. \nAnnouncers declared IU the victor of the blood drive between the two rivals at the Old Oaken Bucket football game Nov. 19. While Purdue walked away with the traditional Oaken Bucket as the winner of the football game, IU fans took comfort in capturing the "Blood Bucket," which was awarded at halftime.\n"Yes, there's a winner, and we like to win," Hobson said. "But it's just great that our numbers keep growing. The real winners are the hospital patients in Indiana who receive the donations."\nThe competition brings \ntogether fans and alumni of IU and Purdue to donate blood in the name of either university each year, Cornelius Wright, Hobson's administrative assistant, said. Participants donated at Indiana Blood Center, American Red Cross and South Bend Medical Foundation locations across the state from Oct. 3 to Nov. 11, Hobson said.\nStudents gave blood at locations in residence halls and the Indiana Memorial Union, said Don Creek, donor recruitment chair for the American Red Cross of Monroe County. Between 2,000 and 2,500 of the units tagged as IU donations came from students, he said.\nDonations benefit patients in hospitals throughout Indiana and the 70-county Ohio River Valley Region, Creek said.\nTo maintain a safe blood supply -- enough blood to last for three days -- regional Red Cross blood centers need about 650 usable donations each weekday and about 200 each weekend, he said. Local locations had been operating at lower levels because of blizzards, flooding and a harsh flu season last year, he said, until Hurricane Katrina brought an abundance of donors. \nThe Evansville tornado also motivated people to donate, with more than 400 units of blood donated the day after it hit, Creek said.