Beat State: Give Blood

Want a productive way to get out your State hate? It's not too late donate blood in the 2009 Face Off Blood Challenge between Michigan and Michigan State. From the U-M press release on the event:

This winter, while the University of Michigan's hockey team faces off against Michigan State, we are asking you to take on the Spartans in the 2009 Face Off Blood Challenge. Blood drives are being held across campus January 19 - February 27. If you have never given blood, please consider making a donation this time. And if you are a loyal donor, this would be a great time to give the gift of life once again.

The Red Cross often finds it difficult to meet hospitals' need for blood. Every two seconds of every day someone needs blood, whether it is for children with sickle cell, trauma victims, selected surgeries, or chemotherapy. To be prepared for everyday patients' needs and for unexpected disasters, a seven-day inventory of blood is needed. On most days this winter, the inventory reserve has been measured in hours, not days.

Obviously, the game has already happened, and the drive is almost half-over. However, you can still sign up by going to givelife.org and entering the sponsor code "goblue". There are still 20 different opportunities to give blood for this drive. I've never donated blood before (I get squeamish around needles and blood), but today I allowed a nurse to take a pint of blood out of my 5-11, 140 pound self. I don't like to get on a pulpit and preach on this site, but trust me when I say that if I can do this, you probably can too. The volunteers at the Michigan Union could not have been more helpful, and it wasn't bad at all lying on the donation table while listening to Stevie Wonder and the Jackson 5 coming out of the speakers. The whole thing took me under an hour. I strongly encourage Michigan students (and non-students as well) to consider doing this. It's for a great cause, and sticking it to State in the process is just icing on the cake.