More than 1,100 East Texas Baptist University students, staff and faculty members are expected to be at the campus' blood drive Wednesday and Thursday — and they're inviting local community members to participate as well.

The ETBU Texas Student Nurse Association will team up with Carter BloodCare to host the drive, which will be in the Edward's Conference Room in the Ornelas Spiritual Life Center from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days.

"I know how important it is to give blood and how easy it is to give blood," said ETBU Public Relations Director Mike Midkiff over the phone Monday. "It just saves life."

Midkiff said the university tries to host a blood drive at least once a year, and sometimes up to twice a year. Department of Nursing secretary Julie Warbington said the school will have another drive sometime in the spring.

Midkiff said participants will be required to furnish a driver's license and donors must be healthy. Carter BloodCare staffers will also run initial tests to make sure donors are healthy enough to give blood.

Midkiff said donors will receive a small gift and their names will be entered for an hourly drawing for door prizes. Some of the prizes include movie tickets, gift certificates to local restaurants, a free round of golf, salon visits and more.

ETBU Assistant Professor of Nursing Shirley Ballard stated in a press release that the school's blood drive last spring helped save 282 lives.

Carter BloodCare is a not-for-profit organization, which provides services to 54 Texas counties, according to its Web site. It's also Texas' largest blood center, providing more than 330,000 units of "lifesaving blood components" for patients annually. The organization also hosts an average of 25 to 30 daily blood drives in local communities.

For donor eligibility information, visit carterbloodcare.org. For information about the blood drive, call 903-923-2210.

In other news, residents of Merle Bruce Hall will host their annual "Candy Fest" event on Friday, Oct. 30 from 6 to 8:30 p.m. The event will be at the Intramural Field, located at Van Zandt and Tiger Drive. Officials say the event is a "safe and fun alternative" to traditional door-to-door Halloween trick or treating for children 12 and under.

According to an ETBU press release, "Candy Fest" is one of ETBU's largest community involvement projects and over 1,000 children attended last year's event.

Participants are encouraged to wear positive theme costumes. For more information, call 903-927-4467.