On Tuesday, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., the Beta Epsilon chapter of the Alpha Phi sorority at UA teamed up with American Red Cross to host their annual blood drive. The blood drive took place outside of greek row on First Street and Highland Avenue.
Maddi Chalabian, an education sophomore, is the director of internal philanthropy for the sorority. Chalabian spent the past two months planning the event.
The sorority refers to the week of the blood drive as Sweetheart’s Week. The women plan different events each day to help raise awareness about women’s heart health, which is one of the main focuses of the Alpha Phi Foundation, Chalabian said.
“The whole point of this week is to raise awareness for heart health, not just for women, but for everyone,” Chalabian said. “We’re not raising any money, we’re just simply raising awareness.”
Donors were able to sign up and make an appointment to give blood through the Red Cross official website as early as December. Chalabian said during last year’s blood drive, 20 people signed up, but 40 people ended up giving blood.
“No one pays anything,” she said. “You just sign up and give blood.”
Leading up to the day of the blood drive, Alpha Phi members marketed the event by making announcements to other greek houses and inviting over 1,800 people on Facebook to the event’s page.
On the day of the blood drive, members wore promotional shirts and hung banners related to the event at the house. Twenty-five Alpha Phi members volunteered to help set up for the event, check people in and provided donors with snacks when needed, Chalabian said.
Alpha Phi holds three different philanthropy events throughout the year to raise awareness for the cause. Philanthropy events include Sweethearts Week, Mr. Alpha Phi— a competition between men across the UA campus— and the Red Dress Gala, which is held during UA family weekend.
The week-long attempt to raise awareness consisted of a presentation at the sorority’s chapter meeting Monday night and a blood drive during the day on Tuesday.
Ricky Urzua, a political science sophomore, donated his blood during a break between classes.
“I had a window in between classes so I decided, ‘Why not?’ It’s been a while since I have given back,” Urzua said. “It is a good opportunity to give back.”
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