MTSU is making room for donors at Feb. 8’s annual valentine blood drive

If there’s room in your heart to help save lives, MTSU will make room for you Wednesday, Feb. 8, to share your much-needed True Blue blood with neighbors across the state during the university’s annual valentine blood drive.

The event, sponsored by the MTSU Red Cross Club student organization, is set from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Feb. 8 in Room 322 in the Keathley University Center, located at 1524 Military Memorial Drive in the center of campus.

An MTSU parking map is available at https://bit.ly/MTSUParking. Off-campus donors can get a one-day permit here or park free in the university’s Rutherford Boulevard Lot and ride the Raider Xpress shuttle to the KUC.

This blood drive is open to MTSU students, faculty, staff, alumni, friends and neighbors from across Middle Tennessee. All donors will receive a $30 e-gift card from Amazon, plus a free T-shirt, as thanks for their lifesaving help.

Donors can make an appointment for the Feb. 8 drive by visiting here, using the “American Red Cross Blood” app or texting “BLOODAPP” to 90999. Walk-in donors also are welcome.

Red Cross officials have noted that patients across the country need blood and blood products every two seconds to recover from severe burns, accidents, heart surgery, organ transplants and cancer treatments.

Blood donated at MTSU’s valentine drive can help neighbors in all 10 counties served by the Red Cross’s Heart of Tennessee Chapter: Rutherford, Bedford, Cannon, Coffee, DeKalb, Franklin, Lincoln, Marshall, Moore and Warren counties. Blood products also can be shared with the rest of Tennessee’s 95 counties, and nationwide, when necessary.

Diane Turnham, MT Athletics associate athletic director/senior women’s administrator at MTSU, laughs with American Red Cross phlebotomist Tyler Skipworth as she prepares to donate blood last October during MTSU’s “Bleed Blue, Beat WKU” blood drive in the Student Health, Wellness and Recreation Center in this file photo. The Red Cross is returning to MTSU Wednesday, Feb. 8, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Keathley University Center for the university’s annual valentine blood drive. Donor appointments are being accepted now at *https://rcblood.org/3GY4SBx*. (MTSU file photo by Andy Heidt)

Donors can save time at the MTSU blood drive by completing the required health questionnaire online Feb. 8, before they give blood, with the Red Cross “Rapid Pass.”

For more information about donating blood and blood products for the American Red Cross, visit http://redcrossblood.org anytime.

— Gina E. Fann (gina.fann@mtsu.edu)