Theron Smith said he was nervous as he sat in the waiting area to donate blood to the Red Cross as part of Alpha Phi Omega’s biannual blood drive Wednesday.

“There’s bags of blood everywhere,” he said. “I’m minimally nervous.”

Smith, a junior early childhood education major, was one of 35 people who came to the Brown-Lupton University Union Auditorium to donate blood.

Alpha Phi Omega (APO), a service fraternity on campus for both men and women, partners with the Red Cross each semester to host the blood drive.

Celia Thomason, a senior early childhood education major and the service vice president for APO, said that the blood drive was just one of many events that the fraternity holds.

“Each semester we put on events in the community and at TCU, and this is just one of the events we do every single semester,” she said.

APO members arrived at the BLUU Auditorium at 6:45 a.m. to set up chairs and snacks while the Red Cross staffers prepared for a long day of needles and bandages.

To get to the donation stage, a potential donor must answer a series of questions from the Red Cross about their travel habits and personal medical history in an effort to stop the spread of transmittable diseases.

Thomason called the event a success and said that even more people came than had signed up.

In the end, Theron Smith made it through just fine, and his blood will be sent off to save a life.

He wasn’t the only lifesaver that day.

Thomason said the amount of blood donated in just six hours was enough to save about 105 lives.