Heartland Blood Centers of Aurora exceeded its two-day goal for blood donations by nearly 50 people at two blood drives held on campus this week.

Though Tuesday’s drive was supposed to end at 7p.m., the group stopped accepting donors after 5:30 p.m. due to the abundance of blood donations already obtained.

Sixty donations were made Tuesday, said Sylvia Ortiz, a senior phlebotomist at Heartland, which exceeded their goal of 45.

Whether students were intrigued by the $25 gift certificates given out by Heartland or just saw it as their civil duty, the group first exceeded its goal of 30 to 35 donors Monday when 68 students made donations.

Monday’s drive did not end until sometime after 8 p.m. when the lines of people eventually dwindled. They eventually ran out of the $25 gift certificates, but Heartland employees promised to mail them to all donors who did not receive them that day.

“Every one pint of blood collected saves three people,” said Karoline Behnke, a phlebotomist at Heartland Blood Centers. “So, for half an hour of your day to help somebody from dying, it’s a really good thing.”

Sometimes, however, blood does not get used due to an over-abundance of one blood type, said Behnke.

Behnke said blood takes two days to process and is good for 42 days after donation. She said the blood is stored and shipped to 36 different hospitals in the surrounding area.

“When the hospital needs the blood, they’ll call into us and make an order for how many pints they need,” Behnke said.

Hospitals pay about $5,000 for a pint of blood depending on the need, equipment and testing used, said Kathy Drechsel, also a Heartland Blood Center phlebotomist.

Kamal Banks, a junior journalism major, said this was his second time donating blood. Banks said he donated a second time because he wanted to help people.

The gift certificates, redeemable at local-area restaurants, were another reason why many students donated blood this time, Ortiz said.

“Every time we give away gift certificates, we get double the amount of donors, if not more, ” Ortiz said.

Ortiz said another reason why many students decided to donate was because they received extra credit if they were in Sociology 170.

The next blood drive will be held on Monday, Jan. 31 from 2 to 7 p.m. in Grant North’s C-TV Room. Another drive will be held in Neptune Hall on March 24. Times and dates are to be announced.