The Blood Connection Celebrates Blood Donation Advocates on World Blood Donor Day

Press Release

The Blood Connection (TBC), this community’s blood center, joins many other countries across the world to celebrate World Blood Donor Day on Tuesday, June 14^th. It will be far from an average Tuesday for several local blood donors and influencers; TBC has awarded select community members with a VIP luxury car or limo ride to their June 14^th blood donation appointment, as well as other ‘thank you’ gifts. These donors and advocates are true community heroes and deserve to be treated like the celebrities they are to TBC.

These guests will be donating at the following TBC Centers:

Charleston: Jenni and Lori May-Matthews are donating together at the Live 5 Holy City Med Urgent and Primary Care blood drive in North Charleston at 9:00 A.M. They will be picked up from their home in Summerville. They have been donating blood for 34 years. Originally from Ohio, they moved to Summerville last year and feel blood donation is an easy to give back to the community.

Lauren Kendall Graham (@laurenkendallgraham) is donating at the N. Charleston center at 10:00 A.M. She is a senior bio-chemistry student at the College of Charleston and is the VP of Administration for the Panhellenic Association and a member of Alpha Delta Pi at College of Charleston. She will be sharing her experience on her personal and panhellenic social media pages.

Myrtle Beach: Blood donor Charles McAleer is donating at the Myrtle Beach center at 9:00 A.M. He will be picked up from his home in Conway and taken to his appointment where he will donate for the 18^th time with TBC, adding to his two gallons of donations so far.

These donation centers will be surprising one select blood donor throughout the day: Hendersonville, Greenwood, Florence, Savannah, Spartanburg, Seneca, Greenville, and Lexington.

World Blood Donor Day was created to raise global awareness of the need for safe blood and blood products for transfusion. For 2022, the World Blood Donor Day slogan is “Donating blood is an act of solidarity. Join the effort and save lives” to draw attention to the roles that voluntary blood donors play in saving lives and enhancing solidarity within communities. This year holds special significance as TBC reflects on the generosity of donors who helped save the lives of many victims of violence in our nation, as well as those who generously donate to help local patients on a regular basis. TBC has been asked to send donations to other communities in crisis more than three times in the past year.

The public can get involved by giving on World Blood Donor Day at a TBC Center or Bloodmobile. Donate blood, receive a sticker, and post a picture with the hashtag #Idonated.

These shocking facts shed light on why blood donation should be prioritized:

• 3% of the population donates blood each year.
• Every 2 seconds, someone in the U.S. needs blood.
• Transfusions are needed for 1 in 83 infant deliveries.
• 25% of the blood supply is used to help cancer patients.
• If those who are able donated blood twice a year, there would never be a blood shortage.

Donations during this time are critical; blood donations tend to decline during the summer because of vacations, higher numbers of accidents due to travel, and emergency situations. Recent natural disasters and tragedies highlight the critical need for lifesaving blood of all types, especially type O negative, which can be safely given to all patients.

Blood products, including red blood cells and platelets, cannot be manufactured despite how far technology has come, like organ donation. For many hospital patients, blood donations are the only chance at survival. Blood products are used for everything from routine surgeries and procedures to cancer treatments.

There are many ways the public can help TBC’s mission on World Blood Donor Day and beyond: donate blood, share the message to friends and family and on social media. If someone cannot donate blood, they are encouraged to raise awareness and advocate for The Blood Connection. Donations collected by TBC are delivered to local hospitals to save lives in this community.

Click here for a list and map of TBC’s local hospital partners. To sign up to donate on World Blood Donor Day, go to thebloodconnection.org/donate. To inquire about hosting a blood drive visit thebloodconnection.org/host.

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