By: Ryan McGarty

According to givingblood.org, 4.5 million Americans will need a blood transfusion each year. The need for people to donate blood rises after disasters like the winter weather most of the U.S., including Alabama, has gotten over the past week. Every year the University of Montevallo’s Student Government Association(SGA) attempts to do their part by hosting a blood drive.

On Wednesday February 17th and Thursday February 18th students could donate blood at the Life South blood mobile that was outside of Anna Irvin Dining Hall from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The event was supposed to take place on the 16th and 17th but was postponed due to dangerous road conditions that prevented the University from being open on Thursday.

During the blood drive, Alabama was in a critical need of people to donate blood. This was due to the winter storms that hit several parts of the state. While Alabama was not hit as hard as some states, there was still an increased need for blood donors.

One potential concern for holding this event, was doing so during COVID-19. The pandemic had the potential to limit the number of students willing to give blood. However, SGA Director of Social Services Jacob Heath was not concerned about turnout. “I think that turnout could vary because we do advertise all the COVID restrictions that are being taken. For example, everything is spread out, there’s fifteen minute time slots for each donor to have, and there is only two donors allowed at a time. They also sanitize after every donor leaves. I think a lot of people will feel comfortable to go but I know that some people just aren’t able to get out” said Heath.

Donors were able to donate inside the Blood Mobile.

Heath also said that it was important for people to be giving blood. “So right now there is actually an emergency need for it. So it’s very important for people to give blood because there’s just a lack of it right now in the healthcare setting.”

LifeSouth is a blood center that has locations across Alabama, Florida and Georgia. All of the blood that is donated goes to local hospitals to help patients that are in need. To find out more about LifeSouth, you can visit their website here .

The next major event SGA will hold is their annual community service event called The Big Event. “The Big Event is a community wide event where there’s a lot of community service efforts. Typically, we would be going out to people in the community and helping with yard work and stuff like that but we’re making adjustments to make sure that it is COVID safe right now” Heath explained. To stay up to date on what SGA is doing, you can follow them on Facebook here.