AARP Michigan and American Red Cross Partner to Help Save Lives Through Blood Donation Drive
LANSING, MI – A three-year-old has cancer. A young mother has unexpected complications after giving birth. Every day, patients across the United States need an average of 38,000 units of blood. That’s about 15 million donations – or nearly 40 million blood products – transfused to 5 million patients a year. AARP Michigan is rallying its members, their families and friends to donate life-saving blood during a donation drive on June 12, 13 and 14.
AARP is again teaming up with the American Red Cross to sponsor a three-day blood donation drive. AARP members, along with their families and friends are encouraged to visit a blood donation site in their area on June 12, 13 or 14.
In the hustle and bustle of our daily lives we tend to forget how important it is to give back to the community in which we live. One of the most rewarding ways to give back is to give blood.
“Through this partnership, we hope to reach out to that segment of the population who have been strong supporters of our blood program and emphasize that there is no upper age limit for donating blood,” Sharon L. Jaksa, CEO of the Great Lakes Region Blood Services, said. “AARP members are volunteering their time and providing blood donations during a critical time. For that, the Red Cross is very grateful.”
Call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE (1-800-448-3543) or visit www.givelife.org to find a nearby site or for more information. If you have any questions, call Karen Kafantaris or Barb Danes at the AARP Michigan state office toll-free at 1-866-227-7448.
AARP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan membership organization that helps people 50+ have independence, choice and control in ways that are beneficial and affordable to them and society as a whole. We produce AARP The Magazine, published bimonthly; AARP Bulletin, our monthly newspaper; AARP Segunda Juventud, our bimonthly magazine in Spanish and English; NRTA Live & Learn, our quarterly newsletter for 50+ educators; and our Web site, AARP.org. AARP Foundation is an affiliated charity that provides security, protection and empowerment to older persons in need with support from thousands of volunteers, donors, and sponsors. We have staffed offices in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The American Red Cross has helped people mobilize to help their neighbors for more than 125 years. Almost four million people give blood — the “Gift of Life” — through the Red Cross each year, making it the largest supplier of blood and blood products in the United States. Each year the Red Cross responds to more than 70,000 disasters, most of them fires, with the help of its nearly one million volunteers and 35,000 employees. Through more than 800 locally supported chapters, more than 15 million people each year gain the skills they need to prepare for and respond to emergencies in their homes, communities and the world. The Red Cross helps thousands of U.S. service members separated from their families by military duty stay connected. As part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent movement, a global network of more than 180 national societies, the Red Cross helps restore hope and dignity to the world’s most vulnerable people. The Red Cross is not a government agency. It relies on donations of time, money and blood to do its work.
