WKU Greek Week kicks off with annual blood drive

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Blood drives take place across Kentucky all the time, but none of them are quite as large as the one held at Western Kentucky University these next three days.

“This is actually the largest blood drive in the Kentucky-Tennessee area,” said Andrew Rash, Coordinator of Greek Affairs at WKU.

The Greek Week blood drive is put on by members of the WKU Greek life community in partnership with the American Red Cross, and it’s the kickoff event to their annual Greek Week festivities.

“I think it’s really great because it really brings WKU’s community together, as well as the Bowling Green community,” said Kylie Schaefer, Greek Week Chair. “It’s not just something for our campus. It’s not just a fun event. It’s something that actually has a tangible impact on the community.”

An impact of saving the lives of so many people, one pint of blood at a time.

“For every pint of blood, it can help approximately three people,” Rash added.

When you take into account that this drive collects more than 1100 pints of blood, there’s nearly 4,000 individuals that benefit from such an event.

“That has the ability to save up to 3,900 people’s lives,” said Rash. “It’s something that has phenomenal impact.”

The annual blood drive has been a stable of Greek Week for as long as Rash can recall, and they continue to set higher goals for collection each and every year.

“We always try to break what we did last year,” Schaefer said. “This year out goal is 1,250, just to try and get as much as possible, but we really want to do as much as we can.”

“We’ve almost doubled in size,” added Rash. “That’s kind of coincided with the WKU Greek community growing as well.”

Sometime Greek life is viewed in a poor way, which is why members of Greek life hope events like these continue to change perspectives, and change lives in need in the process.

“I think it’s really important because there’s a large stigmatization against Greeks and what their impact is on the community,” said Schaefer. “I think that this really breaks the stigma and shows what we’re truly about, how we truly value service and impacting our community in a positive way.”

The blood drive runs through Wednesday inside the Preston Fitness Center on WKU’s campus.