On Tuesday, the ballroom in Demonstration Hall became a place where people volunteered to help save lives.

MSU’s Army ROTC sponsored its annual blood drive in conjunction with the American Red Cross, from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Major Nicholas Pottratz, public affairs officer for the group, said the goal is usually to have 70 people donate. Last year the group surpassed that with 90 people participating, and expects to do it again this year.

“It has been fairly steady,” Pottratz said two hours into the drive. “If we keep this up we will definitely exceed our goal.”

Pottratz said the busiest time for the group was from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., when all members were there for class. He said all officers who donated Tuesday were rewarded with not having to attend physical training Wednesday morning.

“I think that just might be a real incentive for some of them,” Pottratz said. “It is not often they get to sleep in.”

While Pottratz said he is not a fan of needles, he donated blood for the first time.

“I actually felt pretty good after I was done,” Pottratz said.

Assistant Officer Chris Eagling also said he was feeling good. It was his seventh time donating.

“Whenever there is a blood drive I take the 20 minutes out of my day,” Eagling said.

“It’s almost a force of habit.”

Although he said donating is easy for him, he always feels good about it.

“The nurse who was working on me said my blood could help up to four different people,” Eagling said. “That would make anyone feel good about donating.”

Red Cross blood drive team leader Kim Heintz said it was her first time working at an ROTC drive, but she said it was going well.

“I thought it would be a bunch of big, tough guys in here,” Heintz said. “But there have been some who almost passed out.”

Heintz said there were no major complications with any of the donors - only a few who felt sick and light-headed. The only thing Heintz was concerned about was the facility itself.

“This building is getting really old and the lighting is poor,” Heintz said. “It will be hard to put a needle in someone when we can’t see.”

Most of the lighting in the building comes from windows, which worried Heintz.

“We’ve discussed this with them,” she said. “It won’t be able to be held here in the future unless there are some major renovations done.”

Lou Hixon said she was looking for a worthwhile organization to volunteer for when she retired from her job as a high school teacher.

She found what she was looking for at the Red Cross Blood Center, 1800 E. Grand River Ave., in Lansing.

“Everyone either knows someone who has used blood from here or even used it themselves,” Hixon said. “I wanted to help them continue to serve people.“