Written by Quentin Smith
Between March 19th and March 23rd, the TJC community was invited to Rogers Student center for the 50
Gallon Challenge. It is an annual Blood drive which invites students to donate, and potentially win prizes.
A special kick-off event was held on Monday which featured free pizza, drinks, games, and live
entertainment by the band “Polaroid Summer”. Donors were also treated to different prizes and raffles
each day of the event, and every donor would be given a free T-shirt to take home.
“Tyler is a very giving community and we rely on their support to help us reach this big goal,” said TJC’s
Director of Student Life Lauren Tyler.
“Each year we’ve held the blood drive, we’ve had great support from our students, faculty and staff and the great people of Tyler.Over the last 6 years, TJC has teamed with Carter Blood care for the 50 Gallon Challenge, and this year marks the 7th. Jacque Decker, Carter BloodCare manager of operations and field recruitment, said, “We
see a drop in donations at this time each year, and TJC’s 50 Gallon Challenge was created to help
combat that problem.”
Other Organizations were present, such as Be The Match.org, The largest bone marrow registry in the world, whose mission is to find and match eligible candidates for bone marrow donations to those who suffer from blood diseases like sickle cell anemia.
The Goal this year was 400 Donors to help raise 50 gallons of blood, which would be enough to, potentially, save 1200 members of the community.
It is unclear if the 50 Gallon Challenge was a success, as the total number of donations has not been released as of the time of writing.
Those who may have missed the 50 gallon challenge can still donate at Carter BloodCare Donor Center, 815 S. Baxter Ave. in Tyler.
