CANYON, Texas — West Texas A&M University President Walter V. Wendler is challenging the campus and Canyon community to tie or beat a record high in an upcoming blood drive.
This year, Coffee Memorial Blood Center’s annual April blood drive on campus will be the President’s Challenge Blood Drive. If students, faculty, staff and community members donate 200 units, the President will treat the campus to a picnic lunch May 1.
“WT is our biggest partner, but numbers have fallen off since a high of just over 200 units donated in April 2018,” said Misti Newsom, Coffee Memorial recruitment manager. “One unit can save three lives, so that was about 600 lives impacted from just that one drive.”
The drive will run 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 16, 17 and 18 in Legacy Hall in the Jack B. Kelley Student Center on WT’s Canyon campus.
Wendler, who will personally donate to the drive, said he expects WT to step up and once again provide record numbers of donated units.
“We all know how important it is to donate blood, but, perhaps understandably, the urgency isn’t as great when you or someone close to you hasn’t personally benefited from donated units of blood,” Wendler said. “I can think of few ways to better serve the Panhandle—which, after all, is our primary mission—than by challenging our campus community to beat this goal and ultimately provide life-saving resources for our friends and neighbors.”
According to Coffee Memorial, someone in the United States needs blood every two seconds, and more than 1,200 donations are needed every day for local hospitals. Blood can be used to treat and improve such health issues and conditions as cancer treatments, childbirth- or trauma-related blood loss, babies born prematurely, blood disorders and surgery complications.
To make an appointment, visit obi.org or call 877-340-8777. WT students, faculty and staff should bring their Buff ID.
All donors are entered to win a new iPad and will get a free T-shirt, a $10 Pak-A-Sak gift card, and one free entry to AMP’D Adventure Park in Amarillo and the Oklahoma City Zoo.
Serving the Panhandle is the key mission of the University’s long-range plan, WT 125: From the Panhandle to the World.
That plan is fueled by the historic One West comprehensive fundraising campaign, which reached its initial $125 million goal 18 months after publicly launching in September 2021. The campaign’s new goal is to reach $175 million by 2025; currently, it has raised nearly $160 million.
