Students were able to donate blood to help the community
Various blood drives are held on campus.
On Oct. 3, Vitalant (formerly United Blood Services) held a blood drive on North Dakota State University’s campus from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. The blood drive took place on a blood donation bus just west of the Memorial Union near Ladd and Dunbar Hall.
Scheduled appointments were preferred and participants just had to bring a photo ID of themselves to their donation.
The blood drive’s goal was to give staff, faculty and students an opportunity to help their community.
The event, which was sponsored by the Office of Human Resources, saw many NDSU members donating to try and support their community.
Sophomore and an education major, Eric Duliere, was one of the students that donated on Thursday.
When asked why he chose to donate, he said, “I know it is helping others so it is for sure worth the little bit of time and pain it takes.”
“Helping others, whether you’re donating blood or volunteering, always feels good. You know you’re going to be making an impact on someone else’s life,” Duliere said.
“Whether what your doing is big or small it is still important to help out your community. I know a lot of people who really want to donate blood, but they can’t. I feel like donating is a privilege so while I still have the ability to I want to donate.”
Another sophomore, Isabelle Fears who is a psychology major, also donated and talked about the importance of donating.
“It is obviously a personal choice to donate blood and no one should feel pressured into donating, but I am able to donate so why not,” Fears said.
“It is obviously going to help others, and while it can be uncomfortable or painful at times it is for sure less painful than losing someone you love because our community didn’t have a big enough blood supply.”
“I just kind of have the mentality of ‘treat others how you want to be treated’ and I know that so many people will need blood transfusions in their life and maybe that person will be me one day,” Fears added.
Another member of NDSU, who wished not to be named for privacy reasons, donated for similar reasons. They had lost a family member in an accident due to the fact that their community at the time didn’t have a big enough blood supply.
“That was a giant event in my life and shaped who I am today for so many different reasons. Going through that for sure instilled in me to always donate and volunteer when I have the opportunity to,” they said.
“I have always donated whenever I hear or see of a donation event and advocate my friends and peers to donate as well. It doesn’t only impact the person who needs the blood, but people in that person’s life and community as well.”
The anonymous NDSU member also discussed how much they appreciated this event being held on campus.
“Hearing and seeing these events on campus makes me appreciate NDSU more. Yeah, the winters suck and are hard, but events like these really remind me why I love NDSU so much. They really do care about their community.”