Oregon State Red Cross blood drive one of the largest in the Pacific Northwest.

Oregon State University Blood Drive Association hosts one of the largest blood drives in the Pacific Northwest and has one of the most populous volunteer bases on campus. OSU has been sponsoring Red Cross blood drives for more than 60 years; once a term, the BDA hosts a blood drive that is located in the MU Ballroom on campus. 

According to the “Blood Drives at Oregon State University” powerpoint, the creation of the BDA started in 2002 under the efforts of several students, but the first blood drive did not actually occur until fall of 2003. In addition to working with the Red Cross, the BDA’s purpose is to facilitate the publicization of blood drives on the OSU campus (as well as off campus) in order to educate the community on blood donation and collection and reward excellent participation through donating and volunteering. 

The President of the BDA is Katie Fan, a senior with a double major in biology and international studies. Fan first joined the club as a way to get involved, and she became president after participating in the club for only a few terms. As a way of educating their members about blood donation and collection, they host trivia nights during their meeting times along with other interactive learning games to make the learning process more fun, according to Fan.

“We do library candy and flyer pass-outs, classroom presentations, Greek visits and our big tabling event in the quad to get people to sign up to donate and volunteer,” Fan said. 

The BDA, had collected 847 pints of blood at the Civil War blood drive a few weeks ago, according to Fan. 57,637 pints of blood have been donated to the BDA in the last 20 years, as claimed by the American Red Cross.

The Vice President of the BDA is Kelsey Scully, a senior with a major in biology. Kelsey also joined the club as a way to get involved, and she with the rest of the BDA do many fun and interactive things to educate the OSU community on blood drives. 

“We do classroom presentations the week before. We visit Greek houses, and table the week before the drive. We take fliers to businesses and the library and pass them out in classes as well,” Scully said. “In all of these, we announce when and where the drive will be, that you can save up to three lives with one donation and answer individual questions about donating at tabling before the drive, as well as at the drive.”

The BDA Publicity and Promotional Officer is Jessica Vo, a junior with a major in bio health sciences with an option in pre-optometry who has been a part of the BDA since her freshman year at OSU. Vo first started out as a Volunteer Coordinator last year in the club and later worked her way up to try other positions. As a Promotional Officer of the BDA, Vo is in charge of all social media, as well as creating buttons stating “Give Blood” and providing props for photobooths that they sometimes have at their events. 

“I specifically chose to join the Blood Drive because the Red Cross is in constant need of blood that will help people throughout the country and world,“ Vo said. “By hosting blood drives and promoting the event, it is an easy way and place for people to come and donate. Another reason is that I can’t always donate blood myself, so I feel like this is still a great way to be involved in the process.”