Student ambassadors and athletes on campus are advocating for student blood donations at the second annual Big Ten We Give Blood homecoming drive happening on campus between Sept. 29 and Oct. 1.
Every two seconds, someone around the country needs blood. Fighting a blood crisis, the American Red Cross is pushing donations across the county and Abbott is partnering with the Big Ten to award the university with the most donations $1 million.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison is soon to be in full celebration of Homecoming week Sept. 28 to Oct. 3. The blood drive is hot on the heels of Homecoming week festivities: the famous “Fill the Hill” and Homecoming Parade on Wisconsin Avenue and Langdon Street.
UW-Madison student-athlete Taylor Gordon’s grandfather relied on blood transfusions after a car accident when she was nine years old. She told The Daily Cardinal donated blood saved her grandfather's life.
“You never know what will happen,” Gordon said. “[With] blood donations, you have that in your back pocket, that people are willing to help out and give back to the community.”
Gordon, a swimmer and Abbott Athlete in a name, image and likeness (NIL) partnership, works alongside Abbott to promote the company and raise awareness about cancer awareness and campus blood drives. This includes community outreach programs like volunteering.
“I didn't realize how much Abbott really gives back to the community and how big of an influence they have,” Gordon said. “I'm just really excited to be a part of it.”
Gordon said student-athletes should use their platforms to reach people because of how often they are in the public eye and their university representation.
Audrey Kessler, a junior at UW-Madison studying marketing, is heavily involved in the blood drives around campus. She has been a blood donor since she was 18 and now works at blood drives around campus to encourage people to submit their votes as a donation in Wisconsin’s name.
“By donating blood, you can save up to three lives. I feel like that [shows] how important an hour of your life is going to donate blood,” Kessler told the Cardinal. “It's amazing to go in and just sacrifice a little bit of your time to help so many people.”
As a student ambassador, Kessler coordinated with the Big Ten conference on local blood drives like the Red Cross. The staff is aiming to target student and younger donors to combat the donor age gap.
Kessler said she “really wants students to be involved” in donating blood, recognizing the dedication people 65 years old and older have to being lifelong blood donors.
“We're really trying to get student life to come donate blood, and to start [donating] from the ground up [to] continue to be lifelong donors,” Kessler said. “I often go to blood drives and make sure people log their donations on behalf of Wisconsin. I'm biased [towards Wisconsin], but also on behalf of any Big Ten school that they're willing to contribute to.”
Kessler said she’s been able to speak with alumni and long-term donors during her time as a student ambassador. She said the most rewarding part of her job has been the ability to speak with many dedicated donors and how excited people get about a donation competition.
People can donate blood every eight weeks and up to six times per year. Kessler has met with alumni of UW-Madison and heard stories of them following where their blood donation has made it to and who they’ve helped with one pint of blood donated.
“Pretty much every single time I'm at a blood drive, I sit down with four to five people while they're eating their snacks, trying to sugar up after they get donated,” Kessler said. “They tell me all about their time at UW [and] about how they have always given blood. [I will ask], ‘have you ever donated blood before?’ ‘[They say], ‘yep, this is my 60th time.’ It's awesome.”
