For hundreds of Penn students, saving a life will mean a mere prick of the needle.
The Undergraduate Assembly will hold a blood drive in the second-floor auditorium of Houston Hall on Monday from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and Tuesday from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Blood drive organizer and UA member Jamie Berg already expects more than 150 people to give blood on Monday.
"We're filled up, but we won't turn anyone away," said Berg, a College sophomore. "We'll try to accommodate everyone."
According to representatives of the American Red Cross, the blood generated through next week's event will not benefit victims or rescue workers of the New York and Washington attacks two weeks ago because the shortage there already has been filled.
But the attacks have raised awareness of the overall need for blood donations and the UA hopes to capitalize on this momentum. Berg said that next week's drive will hopefully launch a series of monthly events throughout the school year.
"I've always thought this was important, even before this massive crisis," Berg said. "There are so many blood banks that are depleted right now."
Fortunately, Penn students and the rest of the country have been eagerly responding to the call for blood.
The Penn-Jersey Region of the American Red Cross is still returning the thousands of phone calls from people wishing to donate blood in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks.
The reserve supply of blood is currently at seven days-worth -- significantly greater than the average three days.
"The wave has died down, but donations are still way above normal," Penn-Jersey spokeswoman Susan Sponar said. "It's been amazing."
Sponar said that current blood collections are not going toward relief efforts in New York because the facility already sent 500 units of blood to help meet those needs.
Blood donations are still necessary and appreciated, however, and Sponar hopes the recent enthusiasm about donating blood will continue.
"What these donors have done is help us stay ready," she said. "When there isn't enough blood, that means that doctors have to deny some patients treatment."
The need for blood is by no means a new phenomenon. In recent years, the Red Cross has suffered severe nationwide blood shortages.
"Blood needs now may not be as dramatic as what we saw on television on September 11," Sponar said. "But to the average cancer patient who needs blood, it's just as important."
