Donate Your Blood!

In the break between your morning and afternoon classes this Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday, you may decide to go back to your room for a quick nap or even get a bit of reading done. Or you could save three lives.The Harvard College Red Cross is hosting a blood drive at Northwest Labs and the Sheraton Commander Hotel (located on Garden Street, en route to the Quad) this week. The organization hopes to collect 207 pints of blood over the course of the three-day blood drive, according to Blood Services Director Christine H. Choi ’13. Most donors give one pint of blood, enough to help three separate patients in need of life-saving treatment. Your body can replace the pint of blood that it loses within just 24 hours, and the blood you donate might help an accident victim, a cancer patient, or a premature infant, according to the Red Cross website.

Blood of all types is needed. “For the summer, there have really been huge shortages of blood,” Choi said. “It’s been so hot that not a lot of people have been donating. It’s…a critical shortage. Definitely every pint counts.”

Most people who weigh at least 110 pounds are able to donate, though check the Red Cross eligibility guidelines to be sure. The entire process takes an hour or two, with the actual donation of blood just 5 to 15 minutes. Afterwards, you’ll be treated to cookies and juice. To donate right here at Harvard this week, sign up now.

Photo courtesy of Audrey I Anderson/Harvard Crimson.