College students to “give a spit about cancer” by hosting bone marrow donor registry drives on their campuses
College students are the prime age to be marrow donors, yet many are completely unaware that it’s as easy as giving a “spit” to join the registry.
Free swab kits and one-on-one planning support will be provided by DKMS or Be The Match

October 04 2011

DoSomething.org, DKMS and Be The Match^® are asking college students to “give a spit about cancer” by hosting bone marrow donor registry drives on their campuses this fall. The campaign began October 1and runs through December 16, with a goal of launching drives on more than 100 college campuses and letting students know their spit could save a life.

Blood cancer kills more children in the US than any other disease, and is the second leading cause of all cancer deaths in the United States. Many blood cancer patients might be cured with a bone marrow transplant if they can find a matching donor. That’s why DoSomething.org, Be The Match and DKMS are taking action. A bone marrow transplant can be a cure for patients in need of lifesaving transplants. Only 30 percent of patients find a match within their family, leaving many to depend on the Be The Match Registry^®, the world’s largest registry of potential marrow donors, to find a match. College students are the prime age to be marrow donors, yet many are completely unaware that it’s as easy as giving a “spit” to join the registry. To help more patients, thousands of new potential donors need to register.

“I am genuinely looking forward to seeing college students spitting everywhere this fall,” says Nancy Lublin, CEO and chief old person of DoSomething.org.

“We’re thrilled to team up with DoSomething.org on ‘Give a Spit about Cancer,’ a smart campaign that engages college students on campuses across the country,” said Katharina Harf, COO of DKMS Americas, the world’s largest bone marrow donor center. “We hope that thousands of students will join the movement and get swabbed in hopes of saving someone’s life. College students make the best donors, since they're young and have vital cells, so we need them!”

“All it takes is a quick swab of the cheek to join the Be The Match Registry,” says Nadya Dutchin, National Account Executive, Be The Match. “We are hoping to reach thousands of students, especially males and minority students, as those are the donors that are needed most right now.”

Participating college students are asked to secure a date and location on campus to run a donor drive and get as many of their peers as possible to register at their event. They will receive free swab kits from DKMS or Be The Match, as well as one-on-one support in the planning process.

To thank members for their efforts, any campus that recruits more than 200 new potential donors who also text SWABBED to 38383 will receive a $100 gift certificate for a pizza party to celebrate their success. Every new registry member who texts "SWABBED" will be entered to win a $500 college scholarship from DoSomething.org. The campus that registers the most new potential donors will receive $2,000 for an awesome on-campus party. All winners will be announced on January 5, 2012.  

Fraternities and sororities also are encouraged to get involved and use their Greek letters for good with the "Greek Cheek Challenge." The campus chapter that recruits the most new registered donors will be given the chance to win up to 100 "cheeky" T-shirts customized for their fraternity or sorority. In order to be entered, Greek organizations can run a drive or promote an existing drive on campus. New registry members can text "GreekCheek" to 38383 to specify which Greek organization recruited them.

Two launch events are taking place in early October. The first event is run by Montclair State University's "Colleges Against Cancer" student group and the second is organized by Stanford University's 100k Cheeks and Lambda Phi Epsilon student organizations.

To learn more, visit www.dosomething.org or text SPIT to 38383.

About DoSomething.org

We love teens. They are creative, active, wired…and frustrated that our world is so messed up. DoSomething.org harnesses that awesome energy and unleashes it on causes teens care about. Almost every week, we launch a new national campaign. The call to action is always something that has a real impact and doesn’t require money, an adult, or a car. With a goal of 5 million active members by 2015, DoSomething.org is one of the largest organizations in the US for teens and social change. Join us at www.DoSomething.org. 

About DKMS

The DKMS mission is to save lives by recruiting bone marrow donors for blood cancer patients. More than 27,000 DKMS donors have helped save lives by donating their bone marrow. DKMS is the largest bone marrow donor center in the world with over 2.9 million registered donors. DKMS Americas is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization. For more information about DKMS and to learn more about registering as a bone marrow donor, please visit www.getswabbed.org.

About Be The Match^®

Be The Match helps patients with leukemia, lymphoma and other diseases who need a marrow or umbilical cord blood transplant. People can join the Be The Match Registry^® – the world’s largest listing of potential marrow donors and donated cord blood units – contribute financially and volunteer. Patients and their families can also turn to Be The Match for support and resources before, during and after transplant. Be The Match is operated by the National Marrow Donor Program^® (NMDP), a nonprofit organization that matches patients with donors, educates health care professionals and conducts research so more lives can be saved. For more information, visit BeTheMatch.org or call 1 (800) MARROW-2.