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Give a Spit about Cancer? Join in on DoSomething.org’s Campaign!

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Did you know that one in 100 college students are cancer survivors in the U.S.?

This month, DoSomething.org is launching their Give a Spit about Cancer campaign, which seeks to mobilize college students to run bone marrow donor registration drives on their campuses. Specifically, they’re aiming to launch drives on over 100 college campuses and sign up 25,000 new donors.

So why college students? According to their website, college students are the most in-demand bone marrow donors on the registry. While 30 percent of patients in need of a bone marrow can find a match within their family, the other 70 percent rely on strangers.

That’s where, as collegiettes™, we can step in.

Donors from ages 18-24 are in the highest demand. This is mostly because donations are most successful in our age range. It doesn’t require donations and you don’t need to fundraise. All it takes is signing up for the bone marrow donor registry and a cheek swab.

So, how does it work?

  • College students lead local donor registration drives on their school campuses.
  • DoSomething.org and DKMS or Be the Match help the students organize their drives by shipping free of charge swab kits containing all of the materials needed to register 200+ new donors.
  • DKMS or Be the Match provides free-of-charge bone marrow typing for all participants.

For extra incentive, by participating in drives on your campus, you’re eligible to win some of these neat prizes!

  • Top drive receives $2000 for an awesome party at your school.
  • $100 gift certificate for a pizza party to each drive that registers over 200 new donors.
  • Everyone who signs up as a donor and texts “swabbed” to 38383 is entered to win $500 scholarship.

Their campaign runs through the month of October and ends on December 16. The results of the campaign will be announced January 5.

You can learn more by texting “SPIT” to 38383 or emailing your questions to spit@dosomething.org.

So do your collegiette™ charitable duty this month and sign up to participate in this great cause at www.dosomething.org/spit.

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Alexandra Churchill
Alexandra is a graduate from the University of New Hampshire and the current Assistant Digital Editor at Martha Stewart Living. As a journalism student, she worked as the Director of UNH’s Student Press Organization (SPO) and on staff for four student publications on her campus. In the summer of 2010, she studied abroad at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge University, in England, where she drank afternoon tea and rode the Tube (but sadly no, she did not meet Prince Harry). Since beginning her career, her written work has appeared in USA Today College, Huffington Post, Northshore, and MarthaStewart.com, among others. When not in the office, she can be found perusing travel magazines to plan her next trip, walking her two dogs (both named Rocky), or practicing ballet. Chat with her on Twitter @allie_churchill.