Give Blood at Cal State Fullerton Sept. 22-25
Fall Blood Drive Hosted by the Volunteer & Service Center and the Student Health Professions Association
The thought of a needle poking through her veins and drawing a pint of blood terrified Cal State Fullerton sophomore Rosie Chuong. But that was several years ago when she was a high school senior.
Rosie Chuong
Since then, Chuong has given countless donations of blood and taken the meaning of donor to another level: Today, she is a student project leader who helps organize blood drives on campus.
“After giving my first donation in my senior year, it was a jump-start to the many that would follow and to my desire to help save lives,” said Chuong, a Volunteer & Service Center blood drive project director who plans to donate her sixth pint of blood next week during the largest blood drive on campus.
The Volunteer & Service Center and the Student Health Professions Association are teaming up to hold a four-day drive Sept. 22-25 in the Titan Student Union. Students, faculty and staff members are encouraged to donate blood during the drive, scheduled from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day.
“There’s always a blood shortage, and through this drive, we’re providing an opportunity for individuals to become selfless and help others,” said Chuong, a communications major pursuing an emphasis in entertainment studies.
In recent years, the Volunteer & Service Center has boosted its student involvement in blood drives and also has substantially increased blood donations, said Amy Mattern, the center’s coordinator.
A student gives blood during an earlier drive.
“The students have put in the time and effort to make them grow,” Mattern said. “Students understand the importance of donating blood, and they have communicated that to the campus community.”
During 2007-08 blood drives, 710 individuals served as volunteers and/or gave blood, and,collectively, they contributed a total of 1,195 hours of service, collecting 446 units of blood.
This represents a 67 percent increase in the number of donors and a 62 percent increase in the number of units collected from the previous year, Mattern said.
The spring 2008 blood drives alone represented a 116 percent increase in participation over spring 2007, due to a larger, more dedicated student project team, as well as the result of the center’s collaboration with campus Greek Life organizations, Mattern explained.
For their work to organize blood drives, students, along with the center, also have been lauded by the American Red Cross Blood Services, Orange County. Last spring, the local organization presented the Volunteer & Service Center with a “Special Recognition Award” for the center’s outstanding efforts to increase the community blood supply in 2006-07. Cal State Fullerton’s residence halls also received the award for its students’ volunteer efforts with the blood drives.
The Volunteer & Service Center will be recognized Sept. 25 by the American Red Cross Blood Services, Southern California Region with an award for its blood drive efforts.
Mattern credited the center’s student project directors with making the blood drives successful: “They recruited more volunteers to help organize and work at the blood drives, collaborated with other student organizations and secured donated prizes to make donating blood a fun experience.”
More information about the upcoming blood drive is available at 657-278-7623 or online at www.givelife.org. Enter sponsor code CSUF to make an appointment.
Media Contacts:
Amy Mattern, Volunteer & Service Center, 657-278-7623 or oramattern@fullerton.edu
Debra Cano Ramos, Public Affairs, 657-278-4027 or dcanoramos@fullerton.edu
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