Purdue football, Boilermaker Alliance team up for blood drive
Meet Purdue football players and give some blood. That’s what Boilermaker students will do on Thursday at the Krach Leadership Center on Purdue’s campus.
The Versiti Blood Center of Indiana is partnering with Purdue Air Force ROTC for a blood drive. And the Boilermaker Alliance is sending the majority of the Purdue offensive football players—including Texas transfer quarterback Hudson Card—to sign autographs, take pictures and meet and greet donors.
“Coming out of the holiday season, Versiti saw a significant decline in blood donations, and unfortunately that downward trend has continued in the new year,” said Penny Schroeder, area vice president at Versiti. “We called a critical with our community asking for support and the Boilermaker Alliance and Purdue Football responded in full force! We are grateful for their support in encouraging the community to roll up a sleeve to donate blood for local patients in need.”
Three Purdue student organizations quickly filled the 100-plus donation slots: The Ross-Ade Brigade (football), The Paint Crew (basketball) and Block Party (volleyball).
“Joining together to help those in need exemplifies what it means to be a Boilermaker,” said Jayden Brown, VP-Public Relations of The Paint Crew. “When Boilermaker Alliance reached out to The Paint Crew, as well as the Ross-Ade Brigade and the Block Party, we saw it as an amazing opportunity to unite as Boilermakers to help save lives with the football players we cheer for so passionately every Saturday in the fall. To have the opportunity to spend some time with the players, getting autographs and taking pictures while we give back, that makes it all the more special.”
The Boilermaker Alliance has scheduled a second blood drive on Wednesday, January 25th, that will feature the majority of the Purdue defensive players. Donation slots for that drive also are quickly being filled by the Ross-Ade Brigade, Paint Crew and Block Party. The location of the drive will be either the France A. Cordova Recreational Sports Center or Purdue Memorial Union.
“From the beginning, our goal has been to harness the name-image-likeness value of the phenomenal student-athletes at Purdue in a way that positively impacts as many people and causes as possible,” said Jared Thomas, Director of Operations for the Boilermaker Alliance. “One of the greatest by-products of that effort has been to see the entire Purdue community come together in ways we couldn’t imagine when this all began. When one of our charitable partners called us with an urgent need, we wanted to answer that call.
“The Purdue football team helped us do just that. When their biggest supporters, the amazing student sections at Purdue, heard what the football team was doing, they immediately maxed out the sign-up roster for the first blood drive and are nearly there for the second—and these are sign-up rosters that had already been doubled to accommodate the demand. That is name-image-likeness value. That is charitable impact.”
