Acacia fraternity hosted their bi-semesterly blood drive, allowing students to make donations to the Red Cross in the Student Memorial Center.
Acacia is a human service fraternity that has existed at Millersville since 1987, becoming officially chartered in 1988. The group has worked with organizations such as the national organization Toys for Tots and Lancaster non-profit Water Street Mission. One of the fraternity’s longest running partnerships has been with the Red Cross to host the blood drive.
Jered Mackinson, Acacia human service chair of a year and a half combines philanthropy with finances, and serves as the liaison between the fraternity and the Red Cross Organization. He works to organize the blood drive along with advertising it to Millersville Students. The chapter has been working with the Red Cross for a long time. Mackinson said, “We’ve been doing this forever… They’re probably our most consistent, I guess, like partner.”
According to the Red Cross’ website, the organization collects donations from approximately 6.8 million people in the United States, totalling to approximately 13.6 million units of whole blood for donation. The Red Cross also provides about 40% of the United States’ blood and blood cell components to patients in need. At Acacia’s recent blood drive a total of 27 donors contributed blood to the Red Cross organization.
The blood donations the Red Cross receives are used for surgery patients, cancer treatments, and blood transfusions. The organization also shares on their website that every two seconds someone in the United States needs blood. Additionally, the organization shares that one donation can save more than one life.
Acacia will host another blood drive on Veteran’s Day, Nov. 11, in room 24 of the Student Memorial Center.
