By Dana Williams
"Like any college kid, I'm always thinking about ways to make money, but the drive was really more about helping a worthy cause," Tang said. "The drive really helped me to become more aware about why it's so important to give blood."
While heading to class at Nassau Community College, Tang, 19, saw a posting that announced that students could earn money through the Long Island Blood Services Scholarship Program if they helped organize a blood drive and collected at least 30 pints of blood. Students who took part in the program would receive $250 if they collected 30 to 49 pints of blood, and $500 for 50 pints or more.
The program is one of the Long Island Blood Services' efforts to "introduce young people to unique forms of community service," according to Christine Dingfelder, the organization's manager of community relations. Long Island Blood Services is a division of the New York Blood Center that, according to its Web site, currently partners "with over 1,400 business, education, government, religious and community organizations to conduct an estimated 300 mobile blood drives each month."
Tang also learned about the decline in blood donations during the summer months. "These blood drives support the local blood supply, and another reason why this scholarship program was established is because our blood supply significantly decreases in the summer," explained Dingfelder. "It's largely because schools are closed and people are on vacation, so this program helps to supplement our summer blood donations by encouraging the youth to get involved."
Tang, a 2005 Baldwin High School graduate, decided to make a difference by organizing a blood drive. She visited homes and local businesses, handing out fliers about the drive. For an entire month, she worked with representatives of the blood service and officials at the First Church Baldwin United Methodist church to prepare. "I had a lot of help from the people at my church," said Tang, who has been a member of the church for more than 18 years. "A lot of my friends lived in other towns, so I handed a lot of fliers to them, and told them to spread the news about the blood drive as well."
Tang's blood drive is one of many that will be taking place on Long Island this year. Last month, U.S. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, along with Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi and New York Blood Center President and CEO Robert L. Jones, held a press conference to encourage more New York residents to "roll up their sleeves" and become blood donors. The conference was a part of the blood center's effort to inform New York residents about the importance of donating blood.
"I gave blood at the church's blood drive because it's important, and that was my first time giving blood," said Erika Goodman, the secretary at First Church Baldwin United Methodist church. "My blood type is A negative, and it's a rare type that blood centers need more of, and that's what motivated me even more to give blood."
Tang managed to sign up 30 people to donate blood, but, she said, she collected 31 pints of blood, many of them from people who came to the church the day of the drive. Her efforts helped her earn the Long Island Blood Services' $250 scholarship award.
The experience, Tang said, helped her to see that donating blood is not as complicated as people believe it is, and that more people should be persuaded to donate blood to help save lives. Tang said she hopes to organize another drive later this year.
"All the work everyone did to make this drive successful was for a good cause, and we helped to get more of an awareness out there, so I think everything went great," she said. "The money wasn't everything, because donating blood was really what was important."
Comments about this story? Dwilliams@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 282.
Photos courtesy Marissa Tang
