Teter Quad blood drive seeks donors

Junior Amber Seals said members of the Groups student organization seem excited about having needles stuck in their arms for a good cause. \n“I’ve been going around with the sign-up list for Groups members,” Seals said. “People are saying, ‘Yes, yes, I will.’” \nGroups will be partnering with the Red Cross of Bloomington to sponsor a blood drive Tuesday, July 10, at Teter Quad from 2 to 7 p.m.\nSeals, a Groups representative, said the organization has no quota it hopes to fill, but about 50 people are expected to donate. While the blood drive is for a good cause, Red Cross of Bloomington donor representative Don Creek stressed the need for more opportunities to give blood through large blood drives provided by partnerships between IU organizations and the Red Cross.\n“Other than the Groups drive, there’s nothing really for students in the summer,” he said, noting the contrast between the small number of donations from IU and the thousands of donations other universities have in the summer. \nWhile Creek said blood drives on campus are great ways to get students involved, he added that not as many students donate. He remembers the Red Cross conducting multiple blood drives at IU a few years back, with more than 100 people donating. Although it seems the Red Cross holds a blood drive in the Indiana Memorial Union every month, Creek said in order to meet the demand for blood, the number of donations would have to triple. The problem, Creek noted, is that people don’t often think of giving blood as a normal part of their routine. On the other hand, when people do come out in large numbers, the Red Cross is overwhelmed.\n“People really don’t come out unless there’s a huge event, like 9/11,” he said. “When they do come out, they get upset when they overload our staff. We can’t stockpile blood.”\nThe Groups program works to get incoming students involved in their community and campus. Seals said Groups does other community service events in the summer, such as volunteering at Hoosier Hills Food Bank.\nWhile Creek expressed his concern about getting more people to donate, he also extended the invitation to other student organizations to get involved.\n“We need to give people a chance to become donors,” he said. “If someone has a group that wants to activate blood drives, that would be great.”\nWhen asked if there is more of a lull in summer with the majority of students gone, Creek said there’s really no difference in donations proportional to the number of students in town. What keeps the Red Cross afloat is not so much the spontaneous donations, but the regular ones, Creek said.\n“The only magic is in the regular giving,” he said.