UD wins CAA Blood Challenge fifth year in a row
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Newark, Del. — The University of Delaware captured the Colonial Athletic Association Blood Challenge for the fifth year in a row with 573 donors.
The 14th annual CAA Blood Challenge resulted in 1,776 productive units of blood that were collected from 1,735 donors on CAA campuses. Over the 14-year history of the event, the CAA Blood Challenge has resulted in 43,607 productive units of blood.
“On behalf of the entire University of Delaware community, we are excited to capture our fifth straight Colonial Athletic Association Blood Challenge title,” said University of Delaware Director of Athletics Eric Ziady. “Blue Hens fans and our UD students stepped up once again at a crucial time to give their time and help save lives. We salute all of them for their efforts and for embracing this event and we give special thanks to everyone from the Blood Bank who worked so hard to make this possible. We at Delaware are proud to once again lead the way in this important initiative.”
It marked the ninth time overall that UD has won the challenge.
Drexel University finished second in the CAA Blood Challenge with 261 donors and Hofstra University placed third with 217 donors. UNCW (169), the College of William & Mary (139), Elon University (132) and James Madison University (101) all had more than 100 people donate blood.
The event has annually been one of the largest blood drives in the Delmarva region.
“Once again, University of Delaware and the Blood Bank of Delmarva have proven that collaboration, commitment, and having fun can help to save lives,” said Roy Roper, President and CEO of the Blood Bank. “BBD is proud to partner with UD in this our fifth straight CAA Blood Challenge win, and we applaud the students, administrators and faculty involved in this lifesaving effort. As we enter the winter and holiday season, the blood donations from this year’s challenge will help us supply our hospitals and their patients with the life-saving gift of blood, and that’s a win for everyone.”
The CAA Blood Challenge was developed by the conference presidents as a fun way to emphasize the critical importance of donating blood. Each CAA institution worked with its local blood service center and designated one day during the fall term to conduct a campus-wide blood drive. Student groups, faculty, staff and alumni were all encouraged to participate.
