Amanda Alvarez started volunteering for the American Red Cross after her two-year-old cousin was diagnosed with leukemia.

“She had to have surgery after surgery,” says Alvarez, a senior communications major currently serving as fundraising chair for the University’s Red Cross Club. “She survived; but she had to have so many blood transfusions it became [apparent] to me that more people need to donate when I saw how much blood just one tiny girl could need. That’s why I joined the Red Cross Club. That’s why I donate, because I feel there is such a constant need.”

Alvarez is one of approximately 25 dedicated student volunteers that make up the University’s Red Cross Club. Each has their own – often deeply personal – reason for joining the organization and each understands the tremendous need to constantly replenish existing blood supplies.

The 30 hospitals in the state of Connecticut require up to 650 units of blood a day, says Red Cross regional representative Ryan Schierholz, who works with the campus community organizing blood drives. According to Schierholz, one unit of whole blood can help save three lives. But despite the efforts of the Red Cross and other organizations, “we only bring in 500 to 550 units a day,” he says. “We have to import blood from other regions” to fulfill the state’s need.

With more than 22,000 eligible student donors attending the Storrs campus, the University’s blood drives are among the largest in the state and contribute significantly to the state’s blood supply. This year, the University is in a head-to-head competition with Syracuse University to take in the most blood donations, and club members are working hard to achieve their goal.

Beginning Monday, April 12, the club starts a week-long blood drive on campus in an attempt to gather 540 units of whole blood at the University by April 20. That’s the minimum the club expects it will need to stay ahead of Syracuse in the competition.

Although UConn is one of the largest contributors to the state’s blood supply, records show that “only 3.8 percent of the University community donates”, the majority of whom are undergraduates, say group members.

“The numbers seem high from our drives but it’s actually pretty deceiving” says Theo Antonitis, current president of the Red Cross Club. “We could get a lot more people, including faculty and staff.”

There are many reasons why people don’t donate, club members say.

“On a day-to-day basis, we all become pretty complacent” says Antonitis. “Unless someone we know has been specifically affected in one way or another, we don’t feel as motivated to donate.”

Schierholz says, “The number one reason why people don’t donate is because they’ve never been asked. Consider yourself asked.”

Beginning April 12, the schedule for donations will be:

• Monday, April 12 from 10:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. in the Wilbur Cross Reading Room
• Tuesday, April 13 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Wilbur Cross Reading Room
• Wednesday, April 14 from 10:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. in the Wilbur Cross Reading Room
• Thursday, April 15 from 11:30 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. in the Student Union Ballroom, Room 330
• Monday April 19 from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the Student Union Ballroom, Room 330

Faculty, staff, and students, eligible to donate can sign up online.

Participants are encouraged to bring their Red Cross blood donor card or other form of ID when donating. For more information regarding UConn’s Red Cross Club, please visit the club’s website.