Give the gift of life:
Campus blood drives win Silver Award

Central California Blood Center's Gaye Leonard presents a certificate to Students for Community Service director, Chris Fiorentino.

The university received the America's Blood Centers (ABC) 1999 Silver Award for National Blood Drives. The honor was awarded for providing "one of the most dependable drives" for the Central California Blood Center.

Gaye Leonard, director of marketing and communications for the Central California Blood Center, presented a certificate Feb. 15 as part of Fresno State's annual two-day blood and bone marrow drive that week.

"The Fresno State blood drive has evolved into our most dependable drive, with a frequency of six drives per year averaging more than 200 donations per drive," said Leonard when she presented the award to Chris Fiorentino, coordinator of Students for Community Service (SCS), which sponsors the drive on campus.

Fiorentino said the award honors the Fresno State donors who made 1,301 donations in six different drives during the 1998-99 year.

America's Blood Centers is a national network of nonprofit, independent blood centers. ABC affiliates are responsible for collecting and processing about 47 percent of the nation's blood supply.