CAA Blood Challenge
RICHMOND, Va. (August 29, 2012) - The Colonial Athletic Association Blood Challenge enters its 11th year in 2012, having developed into one of the conference's most important public service projects. The CAA Blood Challenge has raised 32,106 units of blood over the past decade, which has helped to save 96,318 lives.
"The CAA Blood Challenge is a great source of pride for the conference and its member institutions," CAA Commissioner Tom Yeager said. "The event has grown each year and we have been overwhelmed by the enthusiasm and participation on each of our campuses. We look forward to continued success with this very important life-saving project."
Each CAA institution designates one day during the fall term to conduct a campus-wide blood drive. With the assistance of local blood service centers, a count is kept of all people who donate blood on that day. Based on those numbers, the CAA determines a winner and presents a trophy to that institution. The 2011 event resulted in 5,232 actual donors and 5,287 productive units of blood from the 12 CAA campuses, which represented a 12 percent increase over the 2010 totals and nearly five times the amount collected during the inaugural blood challenge in 2002.
The University of Delaware won the CAA Blood Challenge for the fifth time in 2011 with 1,086 actual donors, which resulted in 1,083 productive units of blood collected. Each CAA institution had at least 115 donors participate in the program and seven collected more than 240 units of blood. George Mason University finished second with 1,004 donors, marking the first time two institutions had more than 1,000 donors. Finishing third was five-time champion Drexel University with 909 donors.
The CAA Blood Challenge was developed by the conference presidents as a fun way to emphasize the critical importance of donating blood. Each institution promotes the event on campus and encourages student groups, faculty, staff and alumni to participate and support their school.
The CAA Blood Challenge dates for each campus are as follows:
September 4, 2012 William and Mary
September 20, 2012 UNCW
September 25, 2012 Georgia State
October 18, 2012 Drexel
October 23, 2012 James Madison
October 29, 2012 Northeastern
October 30, 2012 Hofstra
November 8, 2012 Old Dominion
November 12, 2012 George Mason
November 12, 2012 Towson
November 14, 2012 Delaware
