Red Cross Holds Blood Drive At Northland Arboretum in Baxter

In Baxter, the American Red Cross held its quarterly blood drive at Northland Arboretum. Coordinators hold blood drives in Baxter and the surrounding area about five to six times per year. The drive is held to remind donors that the need for blood doesn’t stop during the holidays.

“Someone in this country needs blood approximately every two seconds, and the Red Cross supplies 40 percent of what our hospitals use,” said Red Cross Account Manager Carrie Wiste. “So to do that we need to collect roughly 13,000 units of blood every day, and so the need is always there and especially at holidays we have a critical need.”

Weather conditions and sickness prevents donors from coming out, but coordinators explain that your donation is helping to save someone’s life.

“The real thing that people get back is the real feeling of helping to save, each unit of blood can save up to 3 lives, so I think that’s the real takeaway. The sense of community, the sense of helping people, I think, is the best part of donating blood,” said Wiste.

The Red Cross is always looking for sponsors and volunteers that would like to host their blood drive events.

“The process is really easy, they can go online and find a donation site and go to that site and sign up for a time,” said Red Cross Coordinator Leon Schefers. “A lot of churches and schools are donation sites, they can contact the churches or schools, but I would go online, that would be the fastest way of doing it.”

There is still time to give the gift of life this season. The Red Cross will continue to hold blood drives with local sponsors until January 5.