Big Ten universities competed for more than yards and touchdowns this fall. The students and the fans also competed in the Abbott and Big Ten blood donation competition, racing to see which university could donate the most blood. This past weekend, at the Big Ten Championship, the University of Nebraska was named the blood drive winner.
For the inaugural “We Give Blood Drive” 20,000 students, alumni and fans donated enough blood to save 60,000 lives. According to KBRX News, the nation is facing one of the worst blood shortages in more than a generation. Partially to blame is the decrease in students aged 19-24 donating blood. Thanks to the Big Ten and Abbott’s competition, “More than half of donors at ‘The We Give Blood Drive’ campus blood drives donated blood for the first time.”
As the winning school, the University of Nebraska was awarded a trophy and a $1 million check to fund student and community health.
The competition ran from Sept. 26 to Dec. 6, and just behind Nebraska’s 3,983 donors was the University of Wisconsin with 2,016 donors. Other top finishing schools included the University of Michigan and UCLA.
“These past few months, we’ve watched students across the Big Ten step up and commit to donating blood, many of them first-time donors,” said Robert Ford, chairman and chief executive officer of Abbott. “Our goal was to have a fun competition between schools to help address the largest blood shortage in a generation and create the next generation of blood donors. Big Ten students, alumni and fans rolled up their sleeves and did just that, saving tens of thousands of lives.”
Tony Petitti, conference commissioner of the Big Ten, also shared his thanks and said, “Congratulations to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln on winning the $1 million grant to advance student or community health! Together, tens of thousands of lives will be saved. We are all grateful to Abbott for their important work and for their partnership with the Big Ten Conference.”
