The Central Illinois Community Blood Center’s “Summer Road Trip” contest has begun and one lucky person will be taking home a 2015 Ford Fiesta.
Recruitment Development Coordinator Mindy Melton says the promotion was a success last year and hopes for the same results in 2016.
“We have had a lot of new donors. We are hoping to get people to remember us over the summer time. Twenty-percent of our donor base is high school and college students. In the summer they are out and about, meaning 20 percent of our donor base is missing. We are hoping to encourage young people to help us out,” says Melton.
Melton notes “a good amount” of blood shipments went out to hospitals over Memorial Day weekend, which put the blood center’s donation totals at a “very low level.”
“It really puts us in a spot where if our hospitals don’t have what they need on the shelves, then surgeries might have to be postponed. We are always hoping we have everything we need in an emergency situation. All of the blood at the local and area hospitals is supplied by our blood center. When a patient is having surgery, when a baby is born premature, when a burn victim or accident victim goes to the hospital, all of the blood they receive comes from our blood donation drives in the communities we serve.”
The Central Illinois Community Blood Center will be back in Jacksonville on Monday from 11-6 p.m. at Passavant Area Hospital and on July 1st from 1-5 p.m. at Heritage Health.
The final date to donate for the competition is September 30th. Call 241-7500 to schedule an appointment. Walk-in donations are welcome.
For other locations to donate visit www.cicbc.org
The winner of the car will be announced in early October.