The CALS Community of Wellness, the Department of Plant and Agroecosystem Sciences (PAS) and the Plant Sciences Graduate Student Council (PSGSC) is hosting a spring semester blood drive on Thursday, February 22, 2024, from 10:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. in the basement of the Agricultural Engineering Building, also known as the BSE Department at 460 Henry Mall. 

Donate blood, sign-up to help for an hour, or volunteer to bake something for the canteen! The options are endless and will make you feel good no matter which option you choose. To sign-up to donate blood, go to the Red Cross website: https://www.redcrossblood.org/, and use sponsor code UWCALS.

If you are not able to donate blood and would like to assist with the event, there are volunteer slots available from 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.  If you wish to sign up to assist the day of the blood drive with unloading the truck, at the registration table, end of day clean-up, or baking something for the canteen, please reach out to Kristin Carroll at kristin.carroll@wisc.edu. 

Here are a few things to know:

• There is currently an emergency blood supply shortage. Please help ensure a stable blood supply is available and donate blood.
• You can give blood after having COVID-19 if it’s been 10 days since your diagnosis AND you have been symptom-free for 10 days. 

And here are a few statistics from the Red Cross. In 2023:

• We had a 4.3% increase in first-time donors.
• We had an 8.8% increase in Power Red units.
• We had almost 59,000 more donors aged 16–24, a 20% increase, helping to create a new generation of donors.