By Maggie Urban-WaalaStaff Writer

The blood drive held at Hofstra represented hope after a dull couple of weeks. With families and students in the surrounding area suffering, this event provided a restored sense of faith in the Hofstra community.

There was a line of determined students waiting consistently from the beginning of the drive at 8:30 a.m. until it ended at 8 p.m., with more than a few students sticking around in hopes of donating after the scheduled ending time.

One very motivated nurse, Kereisha, explained that due to Hurricane Sandy many blood drives experienced cancellations, making this drive even more important right now with the recent lack of blood donations.

Not only did this nurse show an extreme sense of urgency in getting every person in to donate that arrived, but also was a victim of the hurricane herself.

Kereisha was forced to evacuate her home during Sandy with her four-year-old son. Her and another donor exchanged stories about the storm and the circumstances that they were currently facing because of it.

The room was filled with students, nurses, teachers and families that had undergone extreme hardships and would continue to do so in the snowstorm that followed. These individuals were able to show up to the drive and donate to a cause in order to benefit those in need that could be helped.

“I definitely think it is a blessing that the drive was able to come at the time that it did because people, now more than ever, want to donate to help out, just because most people can’t always get out to volunteer so if we donate blood that’s our contribution,” stated Kenni O’Donnell, a sophomore at Hofstra University.

O’Donnell was one of the many students eagerly waiting in line to donate her blood, knowing that her donation could help improve someone’s life in these turbulent times.

Stating that she and her fellow Hofstra friends try to donate around three times a year, it seems that people are more than happy to show up to these drives as long as Hofstra keeps hosting them.