The American Red Cross celebrated the first day of classes with the UW Kick-Off Week blood drive at Ogg Residence Hall.
The drive began Tuesday and ends Friday, Sept. 9. Donors can report to the hall between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m, and will receive a free t-shirt and pizza, and may also enter a raffle to win Badgers football tickets and pregame sideline passes.
According to Jeannie, an American Red Cross employee, they exceeded their goal of 60 donors on the first day. She said that they hope to continue at this rate throughout this week, and plan to collect more donations from UW-Madison students at other events during the year.
“We get a lot of our blood supply from the UW campus,” Jeannie said. “We’re very happy to be here because there’s so many students willing to donate.”
The American Red Cross hosts blood drives on campus frequently. The Bucky Homecoming blood drive is coming up in October, and they have visits planned for all of the residence halls and a large-scale drive at the Kohl Center. They also take donations at Union South every Thursday and Friday throughout the year.
“Hospitals and patients always need blood,” Jeannie said. One donation takes just one hour of your life, which saves three lives.”
