The University finished second in the 2006 Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) “Have a Heart” Blood Challenge, with 702 actual donors, compared with first-place Drexel University’s 713 actual donors in the fall event.

UD, which had won the first four CAA Blood Challenges, had 911 registered donors, compared with 885 registered donors for Drexel.

“We are proud that so many of our students, staff and faculty contributed,” UD President David P. Roselle says. “The real winners in this competition are the many people who will benefit from the blood that was collected. We also appreciate the efforts of all the CAA institutions who participated.”

The 2006 CAA “Have a Heart” Blood Challenge shattered all previous records with 3,215 actual donors and 3,287 productive units of blood collected. UD and Drexel accounted for nearly half the number of actual donors in the latest drive.

Blood Bank of Delmarva President and CEO Robert L. Travis says the event marked the largest and most successful blood drive his organization ever experienced. The total number of actual donors represents a 22 percent increase in the amount of blood collected during the 2005 Blood Challenge and is nearly triple the amount collected during the inaugural campaign in 2002. During the five years that the CAA Blood Challenge has been in existence, 10,697 productive units of blood have been collected.

The CAA Blood Challenge was developed in 2002 by the conference presidents at Roselle’s suggestion as a fun way to emphasize the critical importance of donating blood.