Give the Gift that Can Save Three Lives and Feed a Family this Thanksgiving – Donate Blood

Levittown, PA, October 31, 2007 – There are many benefits to donating blood – helping cancer patients, accident victims, and premature infants to name a few.  There’s also that good feeling you get when you’re helping someone who may be in a life or death situation. 

But here’s one more.  On November 17, 2007, from 8:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., the American Red Cross will hold its annual “Thanks for Giving” blood drive at the Scottsdale United Methodist Church in Langhorne.  To make an appointment to donate blood at this blood drive, please call 1-800-GIVE LIFE (1-800-448-3543) or visit www.pleasegiveblood.org .

This special “Thanks for Giving” blood drive will match each blood donation made with a turkey given in the blood donor’s name to a family in need (Note: Turkey recipients were previously identified through the American Red Cross Lower Bucks County Chapter.)

The goal of the “Thanks for Giving” blood drives is to collect enough units of blood to build the blood supply for the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend. The blood drives are organized by the American Red Cross Blood Services Penn-Jersey Region, which is headquartered in Philadelphia, PA. Blood drive sponsors from local communities such as the Scottsdale United Methodist Church graciously hold blood drives at locations across southeastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey to support this event. 

Twelve-hundred people in communities across our area are needed to donate blood during Saturday’s event.  Please join us at the Scottsdale UMC on Brownsville Road in Langhorne to donate blood on Saturday, November 17, 2007. A list of all of the participating Thanks for Giving blood drive locations can be accessed at www.pleasegiveblood.org .
   
Most healthy people who are at least 17 years old and weigh 110 pounds or more are eligible to donate every 56 days.  Donors can give blood at any one of nearly 200 bloodmobiles sponsored by business and community groups in southeastern Pennsylvania and in New Jersey weekly, or at one of nine community donor centers. To make an immediate appointment for an American Red Cross blood drive this week, please call 1-800-GIVE LIFE (1-800-448-3543), or visit www.pleasegiveblood.org to find a listing of community blood drives.

The American Red Cross Lower Bucks County Chapter is where people mobilize to help their neighbors prepare for, prevent, and respond to life’s emergencies.  Governed by volunteers and supported by community donations, the American Red Cross Lower Bucks County Chapter is dedicated to saving and improving lives.  Led by over 1,300 volunteers, the Red Cross annually mobilizes relief to over 700 disaster victims, trains almost 18,000 people in lifesaving skills, exchanges more than one hundred emergency messages for U.S. military service personnel and their families, and collects nearly 12,000 pints of blood for local hospitals.  The American Red Cross Lower Bucks County Chapter also has the country’s only 24-hour homeless shelter that serves over 400 adults and children each year.  The Red Cross is the largest supplier of blood and blood products in the area and also assists victims of international disasters and conflicts at locations worldwide.