ALLENTOWN, Pa. (WFMZ) — Miller-Keystone Blood Center announced Lehigh University as the winner of its 2026 Blood Donor Madness competition. The ceremony was held at Coca-Cola Park Thursday.
A friendly challenge between 13 local universities, that also makes an impact. Over the course of 12 weeks, those schools and their students were tasked with signing up new blood donors and encouraging them to donate.
“This challenge is to make sure that our younger generations in the Lehigh Valley and surrounding area are aware of the need for blood,” said Rami Nemeh, President and CEO of Miller-Keystone Blood Center.
Nemeh told 69 News the March Blood Donor Madness Challenge was first launched last year to encourage younger generations to register as donors.
“Only 6% of our donor pool are between the ages of 17 and 21,” Nemeh explained.
85% of current donors, Nemeh said, are above the age of 55.
“Our donor population is aging as we speak so we need the younger generations to step in. This competition, in 12 weeks, these colleges, 13 colleges, they were able to register 554 blood donors. That had an impact on more than 1,000 patients,” Nemeh stated.
Nemeh said Miller-Keystone Blood Center needs, on average, 350 donors to show up each day to keep up with the need for blood.
“The competition is to make sure that all of our colleges in our service area are competing to save lives in the community that we live in,” Nemeh explained.
Lehigh University won this year’s Blood Donor Madness with 77 new donors. They also received a $10,000 check for their scholarship fund.
“It’s absolutely amazing. We had students, we had faculty/staff, even community members that came on our campus to donate blood and it’s really important for us because Miller-Keystone keeps our blood local,” said Jess Damron, Asst. Dir. Of Community Service at Lehigh University.
Those interested in registering to become a donor, can do so here.