Mount Saint Mary College sophomore Daniella Cucuzza of Staten Island, N.Y., a Nursing major, gives blood on Wednesday, October 2.
Mount Saint Mary College held a blood drive in Hudson Auditorium the week of October 1, which resulted in 151 pints of blood donated in just two days.
Each semester, students, faculty, staff, and members of the local community donate to the Mount’s blood drive. Along with medical professionals from the New York Blood Center, members of the college’s Nursing Student Union (NSU) were among those assisting at the event.
“I donate because I want to help others,” said Jessica Kovach of Flushing, N.Y., a senior at the Mount. “I have enough blood, so why not do something quick and easy for those who don’t?”
Kovach estimated that she has donated blood about a dozen times since high school. She started donating blood as a way to give back, after learning that blood transfusions had helped to save her grandmother’s life.
“It was cool to realize someone like me donating could help,” she said. “That has always been my main inspiration for donating.”
Mount senior Courtney Manniello of the Bronx, N.Y. believes that if one is able to, he or she should donate blood at least once a year.
“You just have to think about how much good donating does and just go out and donate,” she said.
Gabriella Rafaniello of Brooklyn, N.Y., a junior at the Mount, echoed Manniello’s sentiment: “I donate because…it’s one way that I can do something to really help those in need,” Rafaniello explained.