The students of Wayne State University's School of Medicine will be sponsoring a fund-raising dinner to offset the expense of blood typing for the National Bone Marrow Registry. BD's Mongolian Barbeque (310 S Main in Royal Oak) will host the dinner on January 16, 2003, from 5:30-10 PM, with seating at 5:30 PM, 7 PM, and 8:30 PM. Reservations are required and can be made by contacting the restaurant at 248.398.7755. Reservations must be made by January 13, 2003. Entertainment will be provided by the guest grillers, many of whom are faculty from the School of Medicine.

The drive will be held at the WSU School of Medicine (540 E. Canfield) on March 26th to test willing donors who would like to be added to the National Registry. The testing consists of a simple donation of one teaspoonful of blood. The process itself is painless and takes less time that a typical blood donation. The cost of testing is $75, which will be covered by the funds raised by the dinner. Remaining proceeds will benefit transplants, research, treatment, and testing. The creation and maintenance of a national database is vital for matching patients with willing donors. According to the National Marrow Donor Program, 70% of patients cannot find a match within their family and must rely on outside donors.