Lord of Life Lutheran Church in Baxter Holds Semi-Annual Blood Drive

The Baxter and Brainerd community filed into the Lord of Life Lutheran Church on Friday for its American Red Cross blood drive. This was the first of two blood drives the church holds every year for over 15 years.

Every two seconds, someone in the U.S. needs blood and or platelets. Approximately 29,000 units of red blood cells are needed every day in the U.S., along with nearly 5,000 units of platelets and 6,500 units of plasma, which is why hosting blood drives is crucial.

“Blood is the one thing that we can’t produce somehow, and especially when there’s been issues all over the country, there’s been a lot of bad weather, so then drives have been canceled. There’s been more COVID in different places, so people can’t give,” said Lord of Life Lutheran Church member Sally Jacobsen. “We filled our drive really quickly and have had a great turnout today. I haven’t had any no-shows, and I hope it goes as well for the rest of the day.”

The church successfully surpassed their donor goal of 39 pints of blood by having 54 total pints. It will hold its second blood drive of the year in July.