The Gateway Scholars Club Honors National Blood Donor Month

In honor of January being National Blood Donor month, the Gateway Scholars Club decided to host a Blood Drive at Wright College for the first time ever, on January 31, with the help of Lifesource. Less than ten percent of the national population donates blood, but thirty eight percent are eligible. Blood drives help people with various conditions or circumstances such as: accident victims with massive blood loss, bone marrow recipients, severe burn victims, cancer patients, anemic patients, and sickle cell disease patients. Every donation a person makes saves an average of three lives. Laura Nitanda, one of the advisors from Gateway Scholars, said, “The reason we decided to do this is because one of our students wanted to donate blood, and she went to Lifesource, 'a regular donation center'. She was told that she couldn’t and was upset and asked ‘What can I do now that I can’t donate blood?' She came back to the club and said: ‘Listen, I would think this would be a really good thing’ so that's when it all started, when one of our students wasn’t able to give blood, and she wanted to do something to give back, and to help out.”

Nitanda even mentioned that she loves doing drives for students to do their civic duty for helping out in social events, not just to help the Wright community, but the community around them. Dipal Patel (pictured above), the supervisor of the drive for ten years, said, “It’s pretty good that we are actually saving people’s lives, the blood is very important, especially in trauma patients, cancer patients, and premature babies.” Patel even commented that National Blood Donor month is not just a month; “Everyday is a blood donor day, this is what we do, this is what I love to do, and I think it is very important to donate blood."

"It doesn’t take a whole lot of time, it doesn’t hurt, and it can mean the difference between life and death for another person.” Adam Schauer, the Associate Dean of Adult Education (pictured right) said, “I donate blood every chance I get! I’m an O+ blood type: a universal donor and the most common blood type. It’s always in high demand. I feel good donating blood because I think it’s a great thing to anonymously help your fellow human being."

If students are interested in helping out the Wright community, or the community in general, keep an eye out for events like the blood drive.

Students Nashaelly and Stephen Bonilla donating blood (pictures left)