A stained glass mural inside the Ohio Union on Tuesday. Credit: Daniel Bush | Campus Photo Editor
Ohio State’s Red Cross Club is set to host its first blood drive in six years this Wednesday, Dec. 10., in the Ohio Union.
The Ohio State Red Cross Club, affiliated with the American Red Cross, a nonprofit humanitarian organization that provides aid to those in crises, was founded in the summer of 2024.
Some of the mission services the Red Cross Club follows include disaster relief, blood services, services for the armed forces and international services, according to its website.
In 2019, Versiti Blood Center of Ohio became the official blood supplier for Wexner Medical Center, per prior Lantern reporting. Since this change, the American Red Cross has not hosted a blood drive on campus, said Cecillia Le, Ohio State’s Red Cross Club president and third-year in chemistry.
“Being able to be back on campus shows how strong we are, and it really shows the big impact that we are making,” Le said.
The club was motivated to organize its first blood drive on campus after seeing how inconvenient it is for students to travel off campus to donate blood with the American Red Cross.
“We are here to make an impact within the OSU community, and not just with the outlier communities,” Le said..
Ohio State’s Red Cross Club is trying to focus on convenience and quality when it comes to their blood drives, Le said.
The blood collected from this event will be processed at the American Red Cross’ blood manufacturing laboratory in Columbus, and then delivered to areas that need it, according to its website.
“Blood drives help disaster relief when it comes to big accidents around here, and it really just amps up the philanthropy that we promise to carry as one of the chapters of American Red Cross,” Le said.
For Merina Russo, a third-year in biology and student working as the Blood Battle project lead with the club, Ohio State could be doing more to help those in need of blood.
“Our greater need overall is more blood donations,” Russo said. “OSU has been struggling with meeting the requirements it needs to fill blood units, so we are just trying to put all hands on deck to make sure that the people who need blood are getting blood in our area.”
For the club, now is an important time to advocate for blood donations after the end of the Blood Competitions and Blood Battles.
“You save up to three lives when you donate blood. So if you want to serve your community that has been serving you, please do,” Le said.
For individuals who might be nervous about donating, Russo said the American Red Cross volunteers and experts are there to help blood donors.
“If at any point you are nervous, you get there and you don’t want to donate. No one’s going to blame you or judge you,” Russo said.
To donate blood on Dec.10, individuals can walk-in or scan the QR code on the flier to sign up ahead of time.
“Walk-ins are always accepted, but, if you are in a time crunch we recommend scanning our QR code to schedule a time to come in,” Russo said.
To learn more information about the blood drive, visit the club’s Instagram here.
