Students wait nervously in the Bell Memorial Union to be called up by a nurse, when they will be seated in a lounging chair, have their arm cleaned, then be struck by a needle.
Chico State hosted its second blood drive of the year Nov. 12. Having only been a month since the last blood drive, many students could not donate again because eight weeks have not yet passed. Those who did participate received a $5 Togo’s coupon.
Corinne Rhodes, a junior health service administrations major, is one of Chico State’s co-directors for BloodSource. One of her duties is to make sure the blood drives on campus run smoothly.
“You’re helping someone who is sick or in the hospital get well again,” she said. “Every time you donate, it saves three lives. Those three lives could either be someone young — a toddler who hasn’t started their life yet — or someone older who doesn’t want to end their life yet.”
Kelley McConahey, a junior child development major, said she participates because donating blood is the right thing to do.
“If I make enough and I can share it with someone else, then why not?” McConahey said.
Breanna Nordholm, a junior child development major, said she donates whenever she can because who knows when someone will need blood.
“I think you never know if you might need it, so if you are giving blood and getting other people to do it, then when you need it, you’ll get it,” Nordholm said.
Alex Valencia, a sophomore animal science major, said he donates blood whenever he is eligible to give blood and BloodSource comes to campus.
“I don’t do charity work so I feel like this is something nice to do,” Valencia said.
Maxie Holmberg-Douglas, a freshman agriculture business major, said she donates every eight weeks. She has a rare blood type of A negative and started donating blood because one of her high school teacher’s daughters was in need of blood transfusions.
“I saw how big of an impact it had on him when people gave blood,” Douglas said. “So it just sparked a passion for me to do it as much as I could because it changed his life and changed his daughter’s life.”
Taylor Sinclair can be reached at [email protected] or @TaySinclair17 on Twitter.
