The Student Government Association, in cooperation with Beat Auburn Beat Hunger and the Red Cross, will hold a blood drive in the Ferguson Center Ballroom on Tuesday and Wednesday between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m.

Parker Graham, SGA vice president of external affairs, has been coordinating the event since the beginning of the school year. Unlike previous blood drives, this one also allows BABH a chance to collect for the West Alabama Food Bank.

“Both the Red Cross and BABH have a common goal in mind: to simply help people,” Graham said. “By partnering, they are able to effectively raise more non-perishable food items by gathering blood donations. The Sam’s Club of Tuscaloosa donates one food item for every donation of blood given during the blood drive.”

This drive’s goal is to collect 270 pints of blood, 43 more than their record-setting August drive, which collected 30 percent more than last fall’s drive.

“This is the second drive we have hosted with the American Red Cross this semester,” SGA director of media relations Leela Foley said. “Donors must wait 56 days between blood donations, so that limits the number of drives we can host a semester, but there are usually at least two a semester.”

According to the American Red Cross, someone needs blood every two seconds, and one standard blood donation is able to save three lives. Approximately 41,000 donations are required each day to fulfill the demand. Each donation usually yields a single pint of blood, plus a few test tubes for research purposes.

Graham hopes the partnership between the SGA and BABH will become an annual event.

“The Red Cross is an organization that I have always been in support of, so I am passionate about working with them,” Graham said. “The most important thing to me is that there is strong attendance [Tuesday] and Wednesday.”