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St. Cloud State University
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SCSU raises funds, gives gift of life
By Joe Palmersheim
Published:
Thursday, March 27, 2003
Media Credit: Ryan Henry
Lisa Thielen of Biolife Services sticks third-year student Chad Kiffmeyer�s finger for a sample of blood Tuesday morning at the Atwood ballroom. The event, sponsored by the SCSU Community Studies department, was held in order for people to have their blood tested to see if they are suitable bone marrow donors.
SCSU students and faculty had a chance to give the gift of life Tuesday by registering for the National Marrow Donor Program.
The event, which is in its sixth year, took place from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. in the Atwood Ballroom and was run by volunteers of all ages.
This event is a jointly-run affair, with Granite Rotary Club paying for the donation fees by selling roses.
"You get the donors, and we foot the bill," said Rotary member Mike Sullivan. "How many donors would SCSU have if everyone coming through the door had to pay $40? It's a show-stopper. So to make programs work you have a to have a source of revenue and a source of potential donors."
Sullivan and other Rotary members sold long-stem roses by the dozen to cover the cost. Over 400 dozen are sold every spring for $15 per dozen.
Sullivan didn't do this alone, however. He is the leader of a team of 13 "leprechauns," his nickname for the fellow Rotary members who help him in selling flowers.
"The 400 is an important figure for us because 400 equals, in terms of contributions to the Red Cross, a $3000 check," Sullivan said. "That's the check that needs to be written for this process."
SCSU students also had a chance to volunteer their services to this cause.
Heidi Osgood, a senior and also the student chair for this event, said that students played a major part in the event.
"We put together the master list and contacted them," she said. "I know that students also put together the site management and public relations also." Osgood also took care of recruiting student volunteers for the event.
Registration is a simple process.
"What they do is they fill out an application and then they go over and talk to the nurse to make sure there's not health problems," Osgood said, "and then after that they just head over and have a little finger prick and they are on their way."
The testing process involves pricking a finger, drawing a small amount of blood and creating five sample spots on a card. Each sample takes about two drops of blood.
The requirements for registration are simple.
"You need to be between the ages of 18 and 60 and in good general health," said Russ Rooney, a bone marrow donor consultant with the Red Cross. "If you have any autoimmune disease or chronic back pain, those are reasons you can't sign up."
One way that marrow donations are different than blood donation is that there are no travel restrictions; donors can come from anywhere in the world.
This event also has a faculty connection with the SCSU communication studies faculty taking an active role in volunteering.
"It originated when we lost one of our faculty members to non-Hodgkins Lymphoma," said Suzanne Stangl-Erkins, a communications studies faculty member. "She's always in our minds when we do this. She had one extra year of life because someone donated bone marrow. We're doing this in her memory and trying to get as many people in the registry as we can."
Mike Sullivan summed up the spirit of the event best.
"It's about saving lives," he said.
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