Upon President Obama's inauguration, I decided to answer his call to service. I launched the National Cesar E. Chavez Blood Drive Challenge, an annual event held on Mr. Chavez's birthday, March 31.

In 2009, 42 universities participated. We expect more than 120 universities to participate in 2010, and we hope to reach more than 10,000 new donors!

The National Cesar E. Chavez Blood Drive Challenge supports the following objectives:

1. Save lives! 
2. Increase awareness of Cesar Chavez’s legacy as a national civic leader
3. Increase awareness and number of blood and plasma donors in the Hispanic community
4. Increase awareness and number of organ and tissue donors in the Hispanic community
5. Increase awareness of health issues, such as diabetes and STDs, and HIV/AIDS
6. Promote healthy lifestyle through the donor education process (fitness, diet, etc.)
7. Increase awareness of health professions through collaboration with blood centers
8. Promote higher education retention through engaging student programming
9. Promote community outreach through donor outreach and family education programming
10. Develop leadership skills through ongoing student organizer training and experience

We are all volunteers and our organization has been a 501C3 since 2002. We would like to connect with potential partner organizations to further our reach, maximize our effectiveness, grow our expertise, and conduct adequate research on our event's ability to effect donor behavior through social identity in the Latino/Hispanic community.

Organizations interested in collaborating with the National Cesar E. Chaves Blood Drive Challenge should visit: http://www.migrantstudents.org/servicelearning.html