MERIDIAN, Miss. (Queen City Newsfeed) – Wednesday was the 13th annual Fall Bash “Labor of Love” Blood Drive and the 7th time it’s been hosted at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Meridian.
The event was from 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.
All participants received a blood drive t-shirt, a Polk’s sausage dog, and a chance to win a grill package as well as a special date night for two.
Organizers said there’s always a critical need for blood donations, especially during holidays.
“We always need blood on the shelf so doctors don’t have to make that tough decision of who’s going to get blood and who’s not,” said Donor Recruitment Manager Amanda Merchant. “We see about a 30% decline in blood donations during Labor Day, and that’s because people are going on vacation. They’re traveling, they’re staying at home having cookouts or dinners, you know with their friends and family, so people aren’t thinking, oh I need to go donate blood.”
If you can’t make it to the event, you can still schedule a time to donate.
“They can go to www.vitalant.org, type in a zip code and they can find a blood drive that’s near them, or they can reach out to us, same website, and we can set up a blood drive at maybe their church or their business or their school, and we can work together to set up something to do locally if they want to go that route. It doesn’t have to be anything huge or elaborate. If it is, that’s great, but if not, we’re looking to try and collect. Some places we go… 12 to 15 units is great for us,” said Merchant.
The goal was to get over 100 units of blood for area hospitals.
