Campus, News

Give blood, get a burger

Students can choose to donate blood on campus this week as part of the annual LifeStream Blood Drive.The event will be held from 12-5 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday on the second floor of the University Student Union.

All donors will receive a $5 In-N-Out gift card and an optional free cholesterol screening.

The blood drive is being hosted in partnership with the Student Life and Development department and the California Nursing Student Association.

Only about eight people have signed up for the event, according to event organizer and representative for LifeStream, Adam Botello.

Botello believes Spring Break may have hindered the amount of people who are aware the event is taking place, but organizers are still preparing and hoping for a much larger turnout.

LifeStream must obtain about 500 blood donations a day to deliver to their 80 hospital partners located in the Southern California area.

“It can be pretty challenging trying to get that many donations, and trying to find locations to do donations is very difficult, so I appreciate our partnership [with Cal State Long Beach],” Botello said in a phone interview.

“Our goal is to get at least 65 people each day [from the CSULB blood drive. That’s typically what we’ve collected in the past on this campus. If we hit out goal for each day we’ll be able to help almost 400 people. The need for blood is constant, and it never ends,” Botello said.

“People think, ‘If I donate blood I’m just going to help one person.’ With one donation you can actually help three different people,” he said.

According to the LifeStream website, one pint of blood is separated into three primary components, which consist of red blood cells, plasma and platelets.

The donations are used to help a variety of patients including cancer patients, heart surgery patients and trauma victims.

Students can register for the event online at https://giftoflife.lstream.org/donor/schedules/drive_schedule/65609 or by calling 1(800)-879-4484. Walk-ins will also be available.

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