Realizing that business at Knights Plaza had slowed down this summer, UCF Health Services’ staff approached Florida’s Blood Centers about hosting a Blood Drive. The event was held in front of the Knight Aide Pharmacy and Convenience Store at Knights Plaza during the first week of the Summer B semester.
To increase participation, UCF Health Services partnered with Housing and Residence Life by adding a contest to the Blood Drive. On July 1, the battle for blood began at University Towers. Towers’ Resident Assistants (RAs) and graduate assistants encouraged their residents to visit Knight Aide and donate blood to help save the lives of fellow Central Floridians.
The blood drive officially registered 40 people and collected 29 units of blood. Each unit of blood that was collected contains platelets, plasma and red blood cells. In just six hours, the blood drive provided blood for approximately 87 people throughout our Central Florida community.
The Gemini community (Tower 1) beat Orion for total blood donations with the sixth floor having the most donors overall. Knight Aide sponsored the following: a free ice cream treat for each donor, a Popsicle Party for the winning team and laundry detergent for the residents of each floor of the Towers with the most donors. In addition to raffle prizes supplied by Florida’s Blood Centers, RAs of the winning floor received a special gift for their efforts.
Health Services and Housing and Residence Life are offices in the Division of Student Development and Enrollment Services.