Community Corner
Be a Hero: Give Blood at City Hall April 6
St. Clair Shores will partner with the American Red Cross to hold an additional blood drive; donations are down due to poor weather conditions earlier this year.
Give blood and give the gift of life. Here’s your chance this Wednesday, as the city of St. Clair Shores teams up with the American Red Cross for a blood drive at .
What’s that, you say? Didn’t the city have one just a few months ago? Yes, they did. City Manager Ben Hughes says St. Clair Shores usually has one around Christmastime and sometime around July 4, but the city was approached by the American Red Cross about holding a third blood drive.
“Donors did not show due to the poor weather” the area experienced in January, February and March, Hughes said, so the city agreed to organize another one now that the weather’s improving.
St. Clair Shores has long been a good partner with the Red Cross, Hughes adds, so “we gladly said yes” to their request. City employees alone have been extremely generous in the past, and this time Hughes is sure will be no different.
Asked if the earthquake and tsunami in Japan are part of the reason for the blood drive, Hughes said that wasn’t part of the plan, since the date was set before those catastrophes struck Japan. But whomever it helps, it’s a good thing, no doubt.
And the small amount of time you need to give (usually no more than 15 minutes once you fill out a small amount of paperwork) and the donation of blood can do a lot of good.
The American Red Cross shares some trivia that’s hardly trivial:
- Every two seconds, someone in the United States needs blood and one person’s donation may save as many as three lives.
- Blood donations help cancer patients, people with blood disorders or diseases, premature babies, transplant recipients, trauma and accident victims and individuals with serious diseases and health conditions.
- All blood collected is screened for disease, so you cannot contract anything from giving or receiving blood.
- Blood is perishable and therefore the supply must be replenished regularly.
To donate, individuals must be at least 17 years old, meet height and weight requirements, and be in general good health.
Anyone is invited to drop by City Hall on Wednesday from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. to donate blood in the council chambers. Walk-ins are welcome, but an appointment works better. That way you won’t have to wait, since reserved times are given first priority. To make your appointment, call 877-505-9527 or click on the American Red Cross website at www.redcrossblood.org and use the sponsor code "scspd."
It’s one of the easiest ways to be a hero.
