Only 3% of the eligable people in New Jersey donate blood, and New Jersey is often short of blood because 1 in every 7 people entering a hospital will need blood. The people in need of large amounts of blood includ people recieving bone marrow and organ transplants. But fining a matching donor is very hard. I ran a donor day where there was a blood drive as well as organ and bone marrow donor registration. I collected over 40 pints of blood with the help of the Blood Center of New Jersey. I registered seven people to the National Marrow Donor Program registry and 50 people completed organ donor cards. After the donor day I ran a seperate blood drive where i focused more on informing high school students of the issues and encouraged them to donate for the first time. The people who will recieve these donations are in life or death situations, and with out these donors they would not live. In essance the people who came to the donor day were actually donating a life to these individuals in need.

As soon as I found out that New Jersey is often short blood and what a huge impact it makes when the blood supply is not there I knew that even if my town was more aware of this that it would help. Everyone has at least 7 close friends or family members. If 1 in every 7 people who enter a hospital need blood then this project will help everyon in some way.

First I researched organizations who were interested in participating in my donor day. Then I met with a representitive form eash organization and discussed what they do and how their programss work. Then I organized the actuall event. I found a location and set a time and date. Then I advertised. I handed out over 1000 flyers in my town, and announced the even at local churches and schools. I also ran an email campaign where I fowarded an email to my contacts and asked them to forwarded it and so on and so fourth. I had great succes with the email campaign because it reached sush a wide range of people. I advertised using posters in telephone poles and in store windows, and our towns pizza place put a flyer on each of their pizza boxes on weekend nights. Then I ran the actual event.