Blood Drive donations have been on a decline since January due to the lack of students participating in the event, which could lead to a decline in the overall blood supply. 

Chico State is partnering with Vitalant Blood Donations.

Michael Lawrence, Vitalant Account Manager in the Chico and Yuba City area, urged students on campus to participate in the Blood Drive that is being hosted on Tuesday, in the Bell Memorial Union auditorium.

“It’s extremely important to have a student-led organization, a fraternity, a sorority, the nursing club, any club on campus that would be willing to sponsor one of the monthly blood drives,” Lawrence said. “Because when that happens, more often than not, the units that are collected are doubled for when we don’t have a sponsor for the blood drive.”

Some of the benefits of sponsoring the blood drive are that it looks great on job applications, Lawrence said. Participants can assist the community and receive community service credit. Students can save lives by sponsoring and donating blood, he said.

For students who are on the fence or fearful of needles or the process, Lawrence encourages students to face their fears and consider those patients who will benefit from the donors overcoming their fears. 

“A little boy who was diagnosed with leukemia at 7 years old . . .  It took 135 blood donations to save his life,” Lawrence said. “Now he’s a happy and healthy college student because there were those blood donors out there that were willing to face their fear they saved his life.”

There are additional dates to donate blood. March 11, April 8 and May 6. Students can donate blood every other month.

Students that are interested in donating their blood can find information here. 

Students who are interested in sponsoring Vitalant can contact Lawrence at [email protected], or (530) 592-5259 for more information.

Brenden Masson can be reached at [email protected].