Here's how you can help at UNC's annual holiday blood drive

In collaboration with the American Red Cross, the Employee Forum is sponsoring the 20th annual Holiday Carolina Blood Drive on Dec. 11.

“The Employee Forum sponsors the Carolina Blood Drive, and we have a Carolina Blood Drive Planning Committee that is a University committee (which) works with the Red Cross to make sure that everything flows well at our drive,” said Jim Potts, chairperson of the Carolina Blood Drive Planning Committee. “We organize it and give them space and they do all of the blood work.” 

The drive is open to any individual from the community and University willing to donate. Donors will be provided a free t-shirt and food, while free parking will be offered in Cobb Deck. 

Appointments can be made on the Carolina Blood Drive website, but walk-ins are also welcome, Potts said. 

“The drive itself is a beautiful way of the campus community and the larger Chapel Hill community coming together for this cause,” said Rhonda Hubbard Beatty, who does marketing and communication for the Carolina Blood Drive planning committee. 

“The dedicated volunteers on the Planning Committee plan this event but the entire campus, and the entire Chapel Hill and surrounding community, is invited to participate in the blood drive. It is not specifically for UNC students, faculty and staff. It is for anybody who cares about this issue.”

Potts said there are plenty of volunteer opportunities.

“You can sign up to volunteer at our drive, too, and we will take you for as long as you want,” Potts said. “You can help people check in. You can feed people. You can help the donors get around the blood drive to the proper waiting locations. There is a lot to do there and we definitely need volunteers.”

The Carolina Blood Drive Planning Committee, which exists among other Employee Forum committees, is responsible for organizing two annual blood drives. For the past 30 years, the Carolina Blood Drive has occurred in June, and for the past 20 years, the Holiday Carolina Blood Drive has occurred in December. It's one of the largest and longest-standing blood drives in the Carolinas Region of the American Red Cross.

“They are both timed that way so that the University can provide blood supply while the students are gone,” Potts said. “We do it at the end of each semester basically because the students are very good at donating, and we try to give the Red Cross a little boost to their blood supply.”

The donated blood may be used within UNC Hospitals or outside of the state if needed, Potts said. 

“If your blood is a type that is needed somewhere or has some antibodies that doesn’t necessarily need to go here, it is going to go where it is needed,” Potts said. “It might go out of state, but most of the blood does stay here.” 

Among the drives held so far, 33,065 pints of blood have been collected. One pint of blood can impact three people’s lives, so the drives have collected enough blood to have impacted 99,195 lives. The Carolina Blood Drive Planning Committee’s goal for the drive occurring next week is 335 pints of blood, Beatty said.

“With this blood drive we know we are going to surpass impacting our 100,000th person’s life,” Beatty said. 

Individuals interested in donating blood must be generally healthy, at least 17 years old and weight at least 110 pounds. Individuals that are 16 years of age can donate with parental consent. All donors must present a blood donor card, a license or two other forms of identification. The drive will be taking place on Dec. 11 from 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Fetzer Hall. 

“It is a product that you cannot buy,” Potts said. “We have to rely on donors to donate their blood. You can’t manufacture it.” 

First-year biology major Diana Bangera is interested in donating.  

“I think it’s really important that we are able to help out people who are in need and who need the blood, in general,” Bangera said. “If I have the ability and the time to do it, I am going to want to donate and help out.” 

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