Hey Gina,
The part of your post tonight about what Evan is doing in heaven made me cry. It is so beautiful to think of him in such a perfect place. And how excited he must be to watch his older sister be such a hero! You have really raised an incredible family.
Also, here's the description of how I did my drive!
I just finished holding a bone marrow drive at my school, Carleton College, in Northfield, MN. Although we have only just over 1900 people at the school, we managed to produce 124 new donors. It was a raging success!
At the beginning, I wasn't sure exactly who to contact at my school about holding the drive, as the event was the first of its kind here. The biggest thing the "authorities" were worried about was the funding that I needed so they passed me around to a few different people. I kept saying that I needed ZERO funding, as the National Marrow Donor Program completely funds marrow drives at colleges. Once I found the right person to contact (the person in charge of campus activities), things came together seamlessly. I just reserved a table in our snack bar area for a few hours on the day of the drive and got some advertising space. After that, everyone I have talked to has been incredibly supportive of the cause.
To advertise, I made a Facebook event and invited EVERY SINGLE ONE of my Carleton friends, no matter how well I knew them, and told them to pass the info on to their friends. Eventually, two girls that I didn't know contacted me who were eager to help on the day of the drive. They already knew how the registration process worked, so they were VERY helpful, as Beatriz (the NMDP rep) and I could not have handled the masses of people who were jumping at the chance to help others. I also printed out posters, which printing services offered to do for free (partially because I work there and partially because they recognized the importance of what I was doing) and hung them up in the bathrooms of dorms (everyone has to use those, right?). I put my contact info. as well as www.marrow.org so people could be informed about the commitment they would be making. Finally, I put an ad in a bulletin that comes out at lunch time explaining away myths about bone marrow donation, which was also kindly printed for free.
I held the drive from 11-2. At my school literally no one has class between 12 and 1, so we had loads of people sign up during that time. The only thing I would have done differently is have the drive go until the next class got out so that more people could have finished their forms during class. I was so thrilled to see how many of my peers showed up to help make a difference. Of course, some people were scared and skeptical at first, but only a handful of people were still unconvinced after talking to one of us.
Hosting this event was a really incredible experience for me. It was really refreshing to see the enthusiastic humanity come out of my fellow Carls that isn't always apparent in college students and it felt great to hold the drive in honor of Evan and Caroline. I am hoping to make this an annual event that will continue even after I leave Carleton. Putting the drive together was ridiculously easy and I definitely encourage all college students to consider holding drives at their schools.
It was amazing, Gina. I never would have had the courage or motivation to put something like this together before. Evan has really changed what I value. Sometimes that can be hard in college, but I appreciate these aspects of life so much more having known him. Thanks for letting me be a part of it.
Love,
Robin
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