The GOAL Community Health program hosted the Battle for the Benjamin blood drive competition on Monday, collecting 52 units of blood from 70 patients. 

McIntyre Residence won the dorm competition and freshman Jonah Starr won the drawing for $100, said sophomore Hinson Peed, director of the GOAL Community Health Program.

Monday’s blood drive was a competition between campus dorms and Greek houses, according to Peed.

“First off, students had a chance to win a $100 bill,” Peed said. “Then there also was a dorm competition where all student donors and all volunteers could contribute their service or their donation to a dorm or Greek house. The dorm or Greek house with the most percentage based on the total number of people in their house will win a golden Benjamin Franklin statue.”

Peed said the event was a success, and there was great turnout from students and community members. 

“We definitely could have done a better job of decreasing the number of student deferrals and increasing the number of PowerRed donors, but overall it was a very successful drive,” Peed said.

PowerRed donations are in high demand from hospitals and help premature babies and cancer patients, according to Peed.

“With a PowerRed donation, the Red Cross will collect two concentrated units of red blood cells,” Peed said. “The donation process typically takes a little longer, but donors have their plasma returned to them along with IV fluid.”

The PowerRed process allows donors to recover faster compared to a normal blood donation.

This week’s blood drive looked different than ones before because it took place in the Searle Center, Peed said.

“Although it was in the Searle Center, we normally try to have it in the union because that allows students to walk by and see what’s going on,” Peed said. “It raises awareness of the fact that we have them, and usually that helps with walk-in donors and walk-in volunteers.”

Junior Nathan Stanish said while the union makes it easy for students to walk-in and give blood, the Searle Center provides a more ideal environment for donors. 

“The benefit of the Searle Center is that it brings more of a peaceful atmosphere to the blood drive versus the student union where it’s all the hustle and bustle and it kind of feels chaotic,” he said. 

Stanish said the Searle Center also makes the experience better for community members coming to campus to donate.

“I think Searle is a nicer place, especially for more like community members who are coming to campus for it,” he said. “This way, it’s easier to navigate, and they’ve probably been to the Searle Center before.”

Hillsdale’s Community Health GOAL Program has partnered with the American Red Cross for many years, Peed said.

“We’ve been partnering with the American Red Cross for at least four years now,” he said. “It was something that even when my predecessor was here, that partnership was already here.”

Senior Chris Dick said he gave blood for the first time at Monday’s event after years of putting it off.

“I’ve always said that I’m going to donate blood,” Dick said. “It’s never been a great time for me and then I realized that there’s never a perfect time, so I should do it now. Then I looked at Hinson’s beautiful face and I said, ‘I can’t disappoint that.’”

After giving blood for the first time, Dick said he plans to do it again.

With the program planning another blood drive in April, Peed said he encourages students to sign up to donate. He said they can take steps to make the process easier, such as getting at least eight hours of sleep, drinking an extra eight ounces of water before donating, eating an iron-rich breakfast, and avoiding caffeine.