St. John's News

St. John's University has expanded its award-winning blood drive efforts to all of its New York State campuses. The Office of Community Relations coordinated blood drives on the Oakdale and Manhattan campuses for the first time this year to go along with annual events at their Queens and Staten Island locations.

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The first blood drive on the Oakdale campus was held on April 14th, with the enthusiastic help of Alice Calhoun, Steve Rosenberg, Dawn Kelly, Linda Faucetta and Ivan Villanueva. The drive was conducted in a mobile blood collection unit parked near the Academic Building and collected 20 pints of blood, which may saved as many as 100 lives.

On April 22nd, a drive on the Manhattan campus inched just ahead of the Oakdale premiere drive to collect 21 pints. The drive, held in the University’s Murray Street campus in lower Manhattan, was co-sponsored by Student Life and Gamma Iota Sigma, a professional Risk Management, Insurance and Actuarial Sciences fraternity.

Blood drives on the Staten Island campus continue to grow, collecting 62 pints recently in a single drive on April 16th. Staten Island campus blood drives are coordinated by Margaret Tierney, RN of the Office of Health and Wellness and improve each year. With 108 pints collected so far in 2008, the Staten Island drives may surpass last year’s total of 254 pints.

The students and employees of the Queens campus continue to break records each year for their willingness to donate blood. They have given 648 pints so far in 2008 and are on pace to break the annual record yet again. One drive in February collected over 200 pints, the new record for a single drive at St. John's University.

St. John’s University has received the New York Blood Services Bronze award in 2006, the Diamond Award in 2007 and is on pace to garner another honor in 2008.

Office of Community Relations Associate Kevin Ryan said, “It’s a pleasure to expand our division’s service by sponsoring the blood drives at Oakdale and Manhattan.”

Ryan serves as the coordinator for the Queens, Oakdale and Manhattan campuses and liaison to the Staten Island campus.
 
For information on University blood drives, contact Kevin Ryan at (718) 990-1941 or visit www.stjohns.edu/blooddrives.