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A Team of Klein College Students Competing in National PR Competition to Host Stem Cell Donor Drive, Collaborate With DKMS For Lymphoma Patients

By Klein College of Media and Communication

Mar. 7, 2022

PHILADELPHIA, March 8, 2022 — Temple University students and faculty will be able to help save a life at the stem cell donor drive happening on March 8, 2022, from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m., in the atrium of the Howard Gittis Student Center. Temple students from the Klein College of Media and Communications are hosting this event with DKMS, a globally recognized nonprofit dedicated to fighting against blood cancer.

Visitors on March 8 can enjoy hot chocolate and will have the opportunity to learn more about the symptoms and side effects of lymphoma. Students and faculty will also have the option to become a donor to help save someone’s life. Willing donors will swab their mouths and sign a confirmation letter. The completed mouth swabs are collected at the event and then later sent to a DKMS facility. The nonprofit uses the saliva from the mouth swab to match a donor to a patient in need.

The students hosting this event are in a national PR competition called Bateman. The Bateman Case Study Competition is the Public Relations Student Society of America’s (PRSSA) premier case study competition for public relations students, and this year's client is the Lymphoma Research Foundation (LRF). The students are using this donor event as part of their campaign to help spread awareness about lymphoma and the LRF to college-aged students.

Stem cell donors are widely needed and can mean life or death for a patient in need. The sad reality is that four-in-10 patients do not find a matching donor. Many lymphoma patients are adolescents and young adults, which makes this event even more significant.

“We realized that we could make a huge difference in the lives of many patients, while also spreading awareness about lymphoma and the Lymphoma Research Foundation,” - Lindsi Smith, Bateman team member.

The team of Klein College students is hoping that this event will spread awareness about lymphoma and the LRF. They are also hoping that students and faculty will feel moved by the significance of this event and become a donor to help save someone’s life.