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 [ Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2004 ] Blood drive memorializes black history
By Krystle Kopacz
Collegian Staff Writer
Heavy snowfall discouraged attendance yesterday at the Charles Drew Community Blood Donation Campaign in the HUB-Robeson Center. "We were successful in getting people to sign up," Faheemah Mustafaa, an event organizer, said. "Then the weather struck." Wendi Keeler, Red Cross spokeswoman, said the number of appointments made by students was not the problem. |
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GRAPHIC: Dave Kelley/Collegian
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"Getting them to show up is another story," Keeler said. Adrienne Chen (junior-elementary education) said the weather caused few people to keep their appointments. "We had over 100 people with appointments -- only 31 came in so far," she said. "It has greatly reduced the number of people coming in." Sage Young (senior-English) said missed appointments weren't the biggest problem. She said the low number of students in the HUB caused the number of student walk-ins to drop significantly. The blood drive will continue tomorrow in the HUB-Heritage Hall from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. It will be held at the same time on Thursday in the Intramural Building. The blood drive is being held during Black History Month to honor Charles Drew, a black doctor and researcher who created the system the Red Cross uses to separate blood. Mustafaa said part of the campaign was to entice more black students to donate blood. She said in general, the attendance at blood drives has been low. Tiffanie Lewis, Black Caucus president, said many on campus events during Black History Month don't get high attendance rates. "I don't think students are very involved during Black History Month," she said. Lewis blamed the lack of involvement on the university. "The university itself is not as active as it should be. There should be more university participation during this month," she said. Lewis said Black Caucus is trying to raise awareness among students to get higher turnout at future events. Some students said they appreciate Black History Month but most likely won't participate in campus activities. "I only really celebrated in elementary and middle school, when we were supposed to," said Linda Onaga (senior-biobehavioral health). "But I think it's a good way to educate people -- everybody, blacks, whites, everybody." Mustafaa said she would probably only participate in the blood drive because she is not involved with any of the other activities. "I know there are tons of movies and different projects going on. I think people are probably aware of the things that are going on, but I don't think students take them into consideration more than anything else that goes on during the year," she said. "Penn State always has stuff going on." She said she's not planning to do anything different in honor of Black History Month. "I don't celebrate in any particular way," she said. "I'm not doing anything special." | ||||
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