The University of Delaware once again was the top donor in the 14th-annual Colonial Athletic Association Blood Challenge.
The event resulted in 1,776 productive units of blood from 1,735 donors on CAA campuses.
Over the 14-year history of the event, the CAA Blood Challenge has led to donations of 43,607 productive units of blood.
“The CAA Blood Challenge is annually one of the most important community service projects that is conducted on our campuses,” CAA Commissioner Tom Yeager said. “Giving blood, especially during the holiday season, has a positive impact on the lives of thousands of people. We sincerely appreciate the efforts of the students, faculty and administrators who were involved in making the Blood Challenge a big success again this year.
The University of Delaware captured the CAA Blood Challenge for the fifth year in a row and the ninth time overall with 573 donors.
“On behalf of the entire University of Delaware community, we are excited to capture our fifth straight Colonial Athletic Association Blood Challenge title,” said University of Delaware Director of Athletics Eric Ziady. “Blue Hens fans and our UD students stepped up once again at a crucial time to give their time and help save lives. We salute all of them for their efforts and for embracing this event and we give special thanks to everyone from the Blood Bank who worked so hard to make this possible. We at Delaware are proud to once again lead the way in this important initiative.”
Drexel University finished second in the CAA Blood Challenge with 261 donors and Hofstra University placed third with 217 donors. UNCW (169), the College of William & Mary (139), Elon University (132) and James Madison University (101) all had more than 100 people donate blood.
The Delaware portion of event has annually been one of the largest blood drives in the Delmarva region.
“Once again, University of Delaware and the Blood Bank of Delmarva have proven that collaboration, commitment, and having fun can help to save lives,” said Roy Roper, President and CEO of the Blood Bank. “BBD is proud to partner with UD in this our fifth straight CAA Blood Challenge win, and we applaud the students, administrators and faculty involved in this lifesaving effort. As we enter the winter and holiday season, the blood donations from this year’s challenge will help us supply our hospitals and their patients with the life-saving gift of blood, and that’s a win for everyone.”
