There was an upbeat atmosphere in the basement of St. Paul's Church on Bow St. yesterday as potential bone marrow donors flowed through Asian American Brotherhood (AAB)'s inaugural bone marrow drive.

Despite the success of yesterday's drive, organizers said the number of minority bone marrow donors nationwide--who provide transplants for those with leukemia and other blood diseases--is critically low.

Because the donated marrow must have an almost exact genetic match with the patient, it usually requires that the donor come from the same ethnic group as the recipient.

"While there are a surplus of Caucasian bone marrow [potential donors]...there is a huge need for minority donors right now, especially Asian-Americans," said Chris T. Tan '02, an AAB member.

Response to the drive exceeded expectations. Between six and 12 samples per person were collected from 47 people from diverse ethnicities.

"We're delighted with the response from students. The Asian American Brotherhood has been fantastic in educating students and convincing them to join the program," said Kathy A. Scranton, who was staffing the drive.

The success of yesterday's event was reminiscent of an earlier effort led by Harvard students to collect Asian- American bone marrow.

In October of 1997, the Chinese Students Association spearheaded a collection of Asian students' blood to donate to the national marrow donor pool.