MSU-Penn State blood challenge to help patients

By Alex Altman (Last updated: 08/28/09 6:25pm) For the 13th consecutive year, hospitalized patients in Michigan and Pennsylvania will receive blood from the MSU-Penn State Blood Challenge.

Students at MSU and Penn State University will have the opportunity to help their respective schools win the challenge by donating blood until Nov. 16. They will also have the chance to help prevent a problem that has historically plagued hospitals this time of the year.

Donors can give blood at the MSU Union and the International Center as well as other places on campus.

"Each donation has potential to help out three people," said Paul Stumpfig, American Red Cross donor recruitment representative. "Donations historically go down during the holidays, and it's getting closer to Christmas."

Stumpfig said while the Red Cross will sponsor every drive, they will all be co-sponsored by a different student organization.

Each of the 27 drives will be located at a different site.

While the Red Cross does the majority of the coordinating, the event would not exist without the help of students, Stumpfig said.

"I get in touch with student groups to see if they're interested in taking part in the blood drives," Stumpfig said. "I couldn't do it without the help of the student groups."

When the event ends in Michigan, the blood will be donated to about 70 hospitals and will be used to treat serious diseases like cancer, blood-intensive surgeries and other serious accidents.

Stumpfig said the Red Cross hopes that each school will be able to donate at least 2,000 pints of blood.

Last year, MSU and Penn State raised 1,953 and 1,879 pints, respectively.

Seth VanHoven, communications specialist for the Great Lakes Area, said the Red Cross is trying to spread the importance of donating blood to younger students because only 20 percent of the blood collected in the U.S. is donated by college and high school students.

"We have a genre of people that don't consider blood donations an important part of their activities," VanHoven said.

"The main message we're trying to get across is that blood donations can make an impact on someone's life."

Even though MSU won the competition last year, students have only beaten Penn State five out of 12 times.

Like every other year, the winning school will be announced during halftime of the MSU-Penn State football game.

This year, the game will be played on Nov. 18 at Penn State — the final game of the regular season for both schools.

MSU communication senior Erica Meissner, an intern with the Red Cross, said she enjoys working for the Red Cross because it's a nonprofit organization that helps needy people.

"I wanted to work for an organization that was well-known and does a lot of good for the community," Meissner said.

"You never know who's going to need blood or what member of your family is going to need it. It's always nice to know that there's something that people do to help other people, even though they don't know where the blood is going or who will benefit."

For information about times and statistics about donating blood, visit www.givelife.org.

Staff writer Justin Kroll contributed to this report.

Originally Published: 10/31/06 12:00am