This February, blood will be shed at the Memorial Union.

Voluntarily, of course.

With blood drives upcoming this winter and spring term, planning is already underway thanks to the Oregon State University Blood Drive Association. 

Natalie Cheal, a fourth-year biology major, and Caitlin Mitchell, a third-year bio-health sciences major, serve as co-presidents of the BDA. The association works with the American Red Cross to hold a blood drive on campus once a term.

A four-day blood drive will take place in the MU from Feb. 10 to Feb. 13, with donations taking place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. However, according to Mitchell, blood drives are scheduled years in advance.

“We have the ballroom in the MU booked out until fall of 2026 right now,” Mitchell said. “We got special permission from the MU so that we always have that space.”

Preparation for a drive begins in the first week of a term.

Mitchell said the first step is to schedule the BDA’s weekly meetings, where most of the blood drive’s planning takes place. 

After this comes an outreach campaign, which includes putting up posters, giving presentations in classrooms, fraternity and sorority houses and via social media. Finally, BDA members table in the MU Quad a week before the blood drive takes place. 

“When the drive itself starts happening, it’s a big project to also keep promoting it around campus,” Cheal said. “We’re still trying to promote it while we have the drive going on, have people come in and walk in if they can.” 

The drive itself is staffed by the Red Cross, according to Mitchell, while BDA volunteers help coordinate incoming donors and run the canteen area, where those who have already donated blood can eat and rest. A Red Cross coordinator also attends the association’s meetings.

BDA meetings get a weekly attendance of around 25 people, Cheal said, but blood drives, according to Mitchell, draw more than 100 student volunteers over the event. Mitchell said that while many would-be volunteers are apprehensive about being around blood and needles, there are volunteer positions that don’t require seeing them.

“There’s a volunteer role for everybody, we try and make sure that anyone who wants to help can help,” Mitchell said. “We’re not trying to get people to overcome their fear of needles to help us.” 

Once a drive has ended, the association tracks how much blood was donated, and sees if goals for donations were met.

“The Red Cross has an idea of how many units of blood they want to collect for each drive, so our goal is really just to meet that amount,” Mitchell said. “The blood drive that we do here at Oregon State is the largest blood drive in the Pacific Northwest, so … this is a really important drive for them.” 

According to Cheal, last term’s blood drive received 650 units of blood from donors.

The BDA also organizes a year-long competition for Greek houses. Volunteers can earn one service hour for every hour they volunteer at a blood drive, according to the BDA webpage, with donors earning more hours depending on the type of donation they make.

“The house with the most hours per member wins a trophy, and there’s one for the sororities and the fraternities,” Mitchell said

This term’s blood drive has another Greek life connection since it falls in the middle of Greek Week, and according to Cheal a blood donation event will be incorporated into the Greek Week schedule. Cheal said the BDA tries to incorporate blood drives into other events that could help promote them. 

“Especially during winter term, because fall term we get the new freshmen on campus interested,” Mitchell said. “Winter term, everybody already knows about it, it’s not super new information, so we really try and get people excited again for it.”

According to Cheal, the BDA also tracks how many first-time donors come to a blood drive. Fall term blood drives have the highest percentage of first-time donors, with the influx of freshmen.

“This is a drive where we can get a lot of younger donors and get them in this process of donating blood,” Cheal said. “It’s easy, if you’re not afraid of needles it’s a pretty easy endeavor.” 

A spring term blood drive will also be held in the MU, taking place May 5 through May 8 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., according to Mitchell. Mitchell said those interested in learning more about the BDA can come to one of their meetings, held this term on Mondays at 4 p.m. in MU room 208, or watch for information on the OSU BDA Instagram page.