Only 3 out of 100 Americans donate blood, yet every two seconds someone needs it. Fewer people are donating blood to help patients. You can change that by making an appointment to donate blood.
To meet the constant demand for lifesaving blood, the Red Cross must collect about 13,000 blood donations and more than 2,500 platelet donations every day. We are concerned that the coronavirus outbreak could impede our ability to hold enough of these critical blood collection drives in the weeks ahead.
To prepare for this possibility, we are adding more staff and other resources to ensure we have enough people to recruit blood drive sponsors and collect vital blood products for patients in need across the country. This will boost our capacity to hold additional blood drives and collect more blood in some areas if needed. In addition, we will invest in the creation of a national public service campaign to raise awareness and inspire the public to donate blood.
Rotarians are “People of Action” spread the word: The American Red Cross now faces a severe blood shortage due to an unprecedented number of blood drive cancellations in response to the coronavirus outbreak. Healthy individuals are needed now to donate to help patients counting on lifesaving blood. Make an appointment at http://sleevesup.redcrossblood.org/campaign/rotary-district-5170-virtual-blood-drive-january-may-2020/
Challenge your friends (or anyone for that matter) to a friendly competition! Who will win the battle to do the most social good for your community?
Put your virtual blood drive campaign against one or even multiple other campaigns to see who can recruit more blood donors for the American Red Cross.
