VOLUME 13, NUMBER 01 • SEPTEMBER 21, 2001

Campus Blood Drive Becomes Part of Emergency Effort

The previously scheduled annual employee blood drive on Tues., Sept. 11, turned into part of the emergency effort to aid victims of the World Trade Center attack. "Our office was originally expecting about 80 people when we scheduled this," says Ron Kurtz of Human Resources. "But once we realized the magnitude of the situation downtown, we decided to expand."

Members of the university and people from the local area who had been turned away from their neighborhood blood centers volunteered in record numbers to donate blood, and by midday a line of more than 300 people snaked through the 17th floor of Weiss. Behind the gurneys where blood was being drawn, smoke from the terrorist attack was visible through the south-facing windows. Donors who had been waiting over an hour to give blood offered to let those with universal-donor blood types step ahead of them.

Above:Hundreds of volunteers turned out to donate at the university's annual blood drive last Tuesday.

People who had already donated, or who weren't allowed to donate because of medical restrictions, offered to help coordinate the effort. "What can I do?" asked a woman who was turned away because she had once had hepatitis. "I'll do anything."

By the end of the day, the New York Blood Center had collected more than 124 units of blood from the university's blood drive. "It is a gratifying experience," says Kurtz, "to see so many New Yorkers coming together, wanting to help."