75 fraternity, sorority members donate
Carolina Lifesavers held the first blood drive of the spring semester Monday in the Russell House Ballroom and the Greek Village as a part of Greek Week.
The blood drive was considered a kickoff for the blood drive to take place in the fall. Greeks who donated blood were given five points toward their Greek Week team. The points are tallied up, and at the end of the week the team with the most points is the winner. Last semester, first place went to
Team Pi consisting of Pi Kappa Alpha, Alpha Delta Pi and Alpha Epsilon Pi.
According to officials, about 75 donors were Greek and the rest were non-Greeks.
Third-year psychology students K.J. Byrd and Kara Opperman were in charge of the event. Both said they were very happy with the turnout.
“Our goal for Red Cross was 49 pints, but I knew we would have more than that,” Byrd said. “By 4 p.m. we had 100 pints, and there were three more hours left.”
Letters and emails were sent to Carolina alumi to encourage them to participate in the blood drive as well. Most of the students were veteran blood donors.
“Giving blood is something that people do regularly, so there were only a few newcomers,” Opperman said.
Second-year broadcast journalism student Lauren Stitzlein believed giving blood is the least sacrificial way to give.
“It’s so easy to do. I don’t see why you wouldn’t,” Stitzlein said.
Carolina Lifesavers highly praised their sponsors, the Retreat and Chipotle. The Retreat manager Craig Haughton also donated blood for the cause.
“I’m hoping to raise awareness for blood donation,” Haughton said. “It only takes half an hour to save a life. I hope that we can continue this trend to give back to the community.”