Blood drive draws large number of donors

Vincent Faiola
State Hornet
Published December 3, 1999

Christmas came early for the Sacramento Medical Foundation Blood Center when CSUS played host to the largest single day blood drive in Northern Californian history on Nov. 30.

Despite an almost two-hour wait during peak times, students, faculty and community members donated 2,050 pints of blood. Organizers had hoped to break the Guinness World Record of 3,539 pints of blood. But record or not, they were pleased with results.

"The blood drive was still an incredible success," SMF Blood Center spokeswoman Leslie Botos said. "One of the best parts of the drive was that so many donors were first time donors and hopefully they’ll become donors for life."

The SMF estimated that 70 percent of the blood donors were donating for the first time.

"This was my first time donating blood and I came out because of my friends and peer pressure," junior Thea Sauerwald said. "It seems like a good thing to do and I don’t know why I never did it before. It was easy."

Donors new and old were treated to great hospitality as the blood drive took over the University Union Ballroom with food, movies, clowns, music and T-shirts for participants. The Center pulled out all the stops.

Clowns greeted donors with animal balloons as they entered the 14,500 square-foot ballroom and prepared to wait, which for some donors was up to two hours.

"Unfortunately the long wait tends to happen when there’s such a huge event," said Botos. "We never want to rush people and have an accident."

"I’ve donated before and the wait wasn’t that bad," said freshman Emi Liemthongsamout. "They were really good, especially considering that so many people were donating. They were very organized."

While waiting, donors were treated to a wide variety of entertainment. "Titanic," "Jerry McGuire" and other videos played on a small television in the waiting area while DJs played trivia games for free CDs.

And then there was the food. A lot of food. For breakfast donors feasted on fruit bowls, donuts, pastries and eggs. Lunch included sandwiches, chips, croissants, and popcorn while dinner included a banquet of Chinese food, pizza, and Burger King.

The drive started at 7 a.m. and lasted until 8:30 p.m. When it became apparent that they wouldn’t set a new Guinness World Record, the doors were shut to ensure that the last minute donors could finish up with their donations at a decent hour.

Over 450 volunteers encompassed the ballroom floor, which saw over 2,000 people donate blood. ASI members have been coordinating the blood drive since June, and were pleased with the results of their hard work.

"People were talking about the blood drive far and wide, from Stockton to Chico," said ASI Community Service Day Coordinator Tricia Randall. "It was just an amazing day, you don’t realize just how large 2,000 people are until they’re all there."

Senior Kelly Wheeler said the timing was tough for students.

"The wait was an hour-and-a-half and I had twenty-million things to do with finals being so soon. I do donate blood at work, but this probably wasn’t the best time for them to schedule the blood drive," Wheeler said.

Randall said the ASI didn’t think about finals being a problem.

"We just have to refine the process next time," she said.

According to Randall, talks have begun about making the blood drive a yearly CSUS tradition with future dates scheduled closer to the start of the semester.

"It was a wonderful drive and we look forward to doing this again," said Botos. "It was an great opportunity working with Sac State."

Until another Guinness World Record attempt, students can still donate blood at regularly scheduled but smaller blood drives at CSUS.

"Overall it was an incredible day," Randall said. "I can’t describe the feeling of watching so many people save lives. We don’t see that in America everyday. It was something special."