Disciples on Campus (DOC) partnered with Filipino American's Coming Together and the Catholic Campus Ministry to host the biggest blood drive of the year at VCU.
Each person that donates blood potentially saves a life, so it was important to get the word out, and help in any way they could while the drive was happening.
The first task was set-up, which went surprisingly quick considering the number of beds and the complexity of the medical equipment. However, the Red Cross workers worked quickly and set up in 2 hours. DOC was able to help. This included wheeling beds into the Student Commons, setting up tables, and hanging a large banner.
Then, the concern was that not a lot of people would come. The room was out of sight of the main flow of students.
However, when 10 o'clock hit, there was no shortage of donors.
Hundreds of students came out to donate blood. At times it was so busy that there wasn't a free appointment for hours, and walk-ins were turned away. This continued to be the case on the second day of the drive. Thousands of pints of blood were collected.
It was great to see the commitment to serve on the part of the students, and especially the campus ministry. The Red Cross was impressed with the DOC's willingness and desire to serve and even offered some of them a job.
Thanks goes to Kobe Frimpong and Rachel Ferguson for organizing this opportunity to serve. Thanks guys!