Anna Stonebraker, a freshman in psychology, joins the event as a volunteer to promote information and direct attendance for participants. New donors learned the process of donating blood from Stonebraker.

Stonebraker keeps a list of people who sign up in advance and checks them in when they show up. After checking in, they answered a short questionnaire to verify that they were still eligible to donate.

The American Red Cross is a nonprofit health organization and the largest blood supplier in the United States. Participants went to the event for a chance to distribute their blood to hospitals nationwide because blood donation is important for medical procedures in urgent situations.

Squeezing the ball is the technique to increase the blood flow. The participant learned that this technique not only increases their blood pressure but also helps prevent fainting during the flow.

While working with one of the Red Cross techs, participants get situated, get comfortable and get hooked up before the donation process. Some people feel uncomfortable about the ball squeezing technique because it uses arm power at the same time as losing blood.

The event is a call for community cooperation and willingness to do this process, because it helps a lot of people. Every step requires high skills and technique, especially to avoid infection.

Caleb Radford, collections tech of the Red Cross, works as a donation operator to collect blood and take care of participants. Every participant followed the last step: a 15-minute break before leaving to make sure their health was safe.

There are a variety of audiences joining the event with different health backgrounds. The equipment was sanitized after every use and ready for the next donor.

As a psychology major, the long-term goal is to help people in the community and those around them, and holding a blood drive is one way to help, possibly even save lives.. The participants got snacks as nutrition for recovering after donating their blood.