UNC to hold annual blood drive

CHAPEL HILL -- Karl Schliebe, a former grounds worker at the UNC-Chapel Hill, needed 15 units of donated blood to survive a May 2006 car crash.

Multiple surgeries and two months in intensive care gave way to rehabilitation that still continues for the Fuquay-Varina resident, who hopes to return to work at UNC someday, a release said.

“You saved my life and made my family very happy.” Schliebe said addressing blood donors when he spoke recently at a campus kickoff for UNC’s 20th annual Carolina Blood Drive, according to the release.

The drive is set for 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. June 3 at the Dean E. Smith Center. “Heels Helping Heal: Celebrating 20 years of Giving” is this year’s theme, according to the release.

UNC Head Football Coach Butch Davis also gave a pep talk at the kickoff, held for blood drive volunteers and recruiters who now are fanning out across campus and community, urging colleagues and neighbors to give at the drive.

Davis said he will ask all UNC football players and assistant coaches to give.

“One reason I coach is that I like the idea of helping students and helping the community,” he said in a release. “Anybody involved with the blood drive is making that happen.”

Now cancer-free, Davis did not need blood last year when he had non-Hodgkins lymphoma. But he saw other patients benefiting from transfusions, and “my wife had two brothers who had cancer, and they had to have blood. I’m very aware of the need to be involved with the Red Cross and the major need for blood donations.”

Organizers hope to collect more than 1,000 units of blood.

Donors may make appointments by calling 96-BLOOD (962-5663) or visit www.unc.edu/blood through June 2. A donor information link goes to Red Cross sites about the donation process, and eligibility to give.

In 19 previous summer Carolina Blood Drives, plus smaller winter drives over the last nine years, more than 19,600 units of blood have been collected from more than 21,600 donors, offering the potential to save more than 59,000 lives, said longtime volunteer drive chair Katrina Coble of the computer science department, in a release.