Ashdon McDaniel, a fourth-year environmental science and ecology major, donates blood during Michigan Technological University’s fall blood drive Thursday with the help of technician CeeJay Smith and moral support from Amanda Marcotte, a first-year graduate student in applied ecology. (Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette)

HOUGHTON — The Memorial Union Building ballroom was full of people taking time out of their day to give Thursday as the American Red Cross finished its blood drive at Michigan Technological University Thursday afternoon. 

The American Red Cross had hoped to collect about 350 units of blood over the two days, usually accounting for one per person, said Red Cross account manager Christine Luxton. They wound up with 407. 

These are the only drives in the Houghton/Hancock area for the Red Cross, which comes up to Tech twice a year from Green Bay, Luxton said. 

“It’s a little further, but we come up specifically for this Michigan Tech drive, because it is so successful for us,” she said. 

Nationally, the Red Cross needs to collect more than 12,000 units of blood per day to support needs throughout the country, Luxton said. The blood collected at Tech will be taken back to Green Bay and processed before being sent out to wherever it is needed.

After this week’s blood drive, people can find out where their blood went through the Red Cross Blood Donor App. 

“It’ll say, ‘It helped this person in Peoria, Illinois, or this person up in Marquette, Michigan,’ so that’s a really nice detail that you feel connected to the help that you’re giving,” Luxton said. 

Although they’re looking for all blood types, the most sought-after is O-negative, which can go to all recipients. 

The Red Cross is in the middle of an emergency appeal. Hurricanes and drives canceled due to heat led to a deficit of 25,000 units in July alone, Luxton said. 

College and high school blood drives like this week’s can help make up that gap, Luxton said. They account for 20% of blood donations throughout the year.

“It’s amazing that school’s back now and we have these students who are willing to step in and donate blood and become the next generation of blood donors,” she said. 

Tech has been hosting the biannual blood drive since October 1990. Over that time, the drive has collected 15,804 units. 

Those donations are used every two seconds, for needs including trauma, pregnancy or cancer care. 

“In this time of tech, where we’re making all sorts of amazing medical strides, we still haven’t found a way to manufacture blood that is useful to patients,” Luxton said. “So we need a donor every day, because we have patients needing blood every day.”

Ashdon McDaniel, a fourth-year environmental science and ecology major, was a first-time donor.

“I just figured it was a good thing to do,” he said. “My mom works in the health-care industry, so that also partly influenced it. I know I heard there’s a shortage.”

McDaniel described the experience as “pretty seamless.”

“It was way easier than I thought it’d be,” he said. “It went pretty well. I’ll do it again.”