The student-athlete advisory committee at every Mountain West Conference school was out for blood — literally — earlier this year, but not on the courts, fields and mats. Rather, they were encouraging their fellow student-athletes and faculty, staff and students to join them in the first conference-wide community-service project — the Rebuilding Lives Blood Drive.

Spearheaded by the Mountain West Conference Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, each campus SAAC worked with a local blood service center and arranged a campus-wide blood drive. Although the goal was to raise awareness about the importance of donating blood, there was a competitive edge — not surprising since there were athletes involved. The institution that collected the highest number of units of blood would not only lay claim to a trophy, but also to serious bragging rights.

Each institution designated one day in either January or February for the blood

drive. While the drive could be scheduled for multiple days, only the day specified by the school would count in the final standings. The local blood service centers helped keep track of donated units.

Carolanye Henry, associate commissioner and senior woman administrator for the league, said the SAAC had been discussing the possibility of a conference-wide project for some time. The group considered a number of options such as a food drive, but ultimately it was the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina that provided a spark.

“Student-athletes in our community listened to reports on Hurricane Katrina and how the blood banks were down,” said Henry. “We thought if we did a blood drive, even if student-athletes couldn’t give blood, they could recruit people to give blood, and we could use our conference basketball tournament to award the champion.”

Fully aware that each of the conference’s nine schools already sponsors blood drives on campus during the academic year, one of the project’s primary challenges was making the SAAC drive stand out from the others. To help, the conference office developed an informational packet to aid campus SAACs in organizing and promoting the drive.

SAACs also were encouraged to partner with other organizations, especially if there already was a drive scheduled in the same time frame as the competition. Key individuals at the institution such as the chancellor or president and the director of athletics also were critical to the project’s success, as were student groups, faculty, staff and alumni.

Conference SAAC member Kamilia M. Davis, a senior track and field student-athlete and co-president of the University of New Mexico SAAC, said partnering with the other groups and individuals not only made it easier to collect units of blood, but it also served as a way of building unity on campus and raising the SAAC’s visibility.

But the biggest hurdle, said Davis, was just getting people to donate.

“That was the huge challenge — trying to remove the fear and have them buy into the fact that it’s a competition. No, it may not be a ‘fun’ community-service project, but it’s something that benefits the community,” Davis said.

Because it was only the project’s first year, many SAACs relied heavily on traditional promotions. Some contacted radio stations and publicized the drive through sports information departments. Others not only set out to win, but also to collect more blood than other campus drives.

When the results were tallied, the U.S. Air Force Academy won the competition with 86 pints. Director of Athletics Hans Mueh accepted the trophy during the 2006 Mountain West Conference Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships. Overall, the conference contributed 682 pints of blood to local blood banks.

Now the league hopes to build the outreach into a tradition. Henry said she was pleased not only with the way student-athletes were engaged in the outreach, but also with the enthusiasm they already are showing for next year’s drive.

In fact, student-athletes are talking about strategies to wrestle the trophy away from the reigning champion, which Henry says will undoubtedly lead to more creative ways of attracting donors.

For instance, Davis said each New Mexico student-athlete will be encouraged to find one or two other participants. They also may solicit participation from nearby schools and businesses that already support the athletics department.

“This was the first time it was conference-wide,” said Davis. “It was sort of a tester and everyone liked it. It’s a blood drive, so its not something typical. We’re not selling ice cream or lollipops. We just have to figure out how to tap into everyone’s personality to get them to donate.”