Becca Dodge, a senior majoring in psychology, recently lost her father after a seven-week battle with leukemia. If it weren’t for blood that had been donated at blood drives, she said, she wouldn’t have had enough time with her father to say the 
proper goodbyes.

“It’s hard to portray the importance of donating blood until someone you love is in need of a transfusion,” Dodge said. “Knowing that someone else’s donation gave my family more time with my dad while he fought leukemia always inspires me to pay it forward and give the precious gift of life to 
someone else.”

For those who frequently donate blood through the Red Cross, it can often be challenging to schedule a donation while juggling classes. The Red Cross has created a Blood Donor App that is intended to make 
donating blood and saving lives fun 
and easy.

Alicia Anger, external communications manager for Alabama and central Gulf Coast blood services region, said the new Blood Donor App is a convenient way for donors to schedule a donation, find blood drives near them and track their donations. The app will sync with phone calendars in order to 
help users stay organized.

“The convenience of it is what makes it great,” she said. “It gives donors the power to save lives in the palm of 
your hand.”

Dodge said she thinks the app is a great way to inspire people to donate.

“Having a way to keep track of your donations can help you continue to donate blood,” she said.

Donors who use the Blood Donor App can create teams and win awards and prizes based on how much their team has donated. There are also 
opportunities to receive discounts and freebies from local businesses through using the app.

“When you donate, you unlock badges and it gives you discounts,” Anger said.

Anger said, the Red Cross must receive 15,000 units of donated blood each day in order to have a steady supply for emergency use.

Chris Kidd, a junior majoring in advertising, said the Blood Donor App is a good way to keep track of donations and inspire yourself and others to donate regularly.

“I like the idea of helping people out,” Kidd said. “Plus my blood 
is universal, so there’s no limits 
to how many I can help out with 
my blood.”

If you would like to get involved, the Blood Donor App is available in the App Store and is compatible with both iPhone and Android.