by Dan Shirk
Did you know that every day in the U.S., roughly 44,000 pints of blood are needed? The Red Cross has over 130 years of experience providing humanitarian aid – including more than 70 years of supplying blood to those in need.
In an effort to continue building relationships with the community, the Ohio Masonic Home partnered with the American Red Cross and hosted a Blood Drive at Springfield Masonic Community on July 18.
Let me explain why supporting our Blood Drive was important to me, both personally and from an organizational standpoint.
Most importantly, very few people actually get to take an active role in helping to save a life. By taking an hour out of my day, I get to make a real difference. I feel grateful I am healthy enough to help in this way.
The Ohio Masonic Home also benefits from our blood drive. By participating in our blood drive program, we combine our strengths for a few hours, around a worthwhile and lifesaving cause. We can do a lot of good. We can have a lot of impact.
Odds have it, someone you know will need blood during your lifetime. In fact every two seconds someone in America needs blood, from trauma victims to cancer patients, mothers giving birth to premature babies and so many more. Here is a short testimony from a staff member.
“In February 2004, I unfortunately was involved in a serious car accident. I sustained a compound fracture of my right tibia and fibula that required emergency surgery to save my right leg. After a week hospital stay my blood counts continued to go down. Blood loss from the accident and the surgery made it urgent that I receive several units of blood after my counts continued to drop drastically. I have been so grateful for the lifesaving donations of blood since that time. We never really think about how far reaching blood donation is until it hits close to home. This is such a great humanitarian event for our organization and I am proud to be part of it. “
Each pint of blood we collected will help save up to three lives and will touch the lives of so many more. What a great way to pay it forward and make an impact on people in our community and across the country.
