GRANTHAM, Pa. (March 28, 2006) — Together with the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP), Messiah College’s Office of Multicultural Programs is holding a volunteer marrow donor drive on April 12 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Hostetter Chapel on the college’s Grantham campus. The drive is open to individuals age 18 to 60. Donors must complete a brief health questionnaire, give a small sample of blood and sign a consent form to be added to NMDP’s registry. The drive is open to the public, and testing is free. For more information, contact the NMDP Penn-Jersey Regional Center at (877) 261-6786.

Each year more than 30,000 people are diagnosed with life-threatening blood diseases that require healthy marrow and blood cells for life-saving transplants. The NMDP provides a registry of potential donors. Minorities are currently underrepresented on the registry, so additional diverse donors are especially needed.

Through an extensive international network, the NMDP maintains the world’s largest, most diverse registry of more than five million volunteer marrow and blood cell donors. The NMDP also provides resources for patients and physicians and conducts research about the outcomes of marrow and blood cell transplantation. More information about NMDP and marrow donation is available at www.marrow.org.

Messiah College, a private Christian college of the liberal and applied arts and sciences, enrolls more than 2,900 undergraduate students in 50 majors. Established in 1909, the primary campus is located in Grantham, Pa., near the state capital of Harrisburg. A satellite campus affiliated with Temple University is located in Philadelphia.