Brady's Roadhouse

Saturday March 6, Greene County held a Save Lives Feed Families Blood Drive, held at the Greene County fairgrounds. People who wished to give blood met at 4H building 10 in order to donate their blood between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m.

This drive was different than ones held in the past, due to a new partnership. The proceeds of this drive were donated to the food bank to continue to feed hungry families of Greene County. Candance Tustin of the food bank said they are grateful for the donations from the blood drive. 

“The idea of this event was brought about from a discussion with a representative of Vitalant, who works at coordinating drives in various communities. She had explained that Vitalant, Central Blood Bank, currently has a grant which allows them to make a $5 contribution for every person who donates blood, to their local food bank,” Tustin said. “We are incredibly thankful to partner with Vitalant and with the county of Greene to Save Lives and Feed Families.”

People who chose to donate blood not only enabled Vitalant to donate $5 to the food bank in order to help families, but their blood donation could save up to three lives, according to their website www.vitalant.org.

Vitalant stated that even people who have received the COVID-19 vaccination were still allowed to donate their blood, platelets, or plasma if they met all the other general requirements. This allowed anyone who passed the requirements to be able to donate blood whether or not they have received the vaccine.

The Save Lives and Feed Families Blood Drive also offers another benefit to the community and those who wished to donate. Vitalant tests all donated blood for COVID-19 antibodies and informs the donor of their results. If the donor has the antibodies they can use the plasma from that donation to treat those who are battling COVID-19. 

This was the second blood drive that Greene County held to support the food bank. Friday March 5, the food bank hosted a blood drive of their own where Vitalant also donated $5 for every person who donated blood. The food bank did not organize the blood drive on Saturday but were grateful to take the donations from it to benefit Greene County.

“We are very happy to collaborate with Vitalant, as every donation helps individuals and families in a multitude of ways. The proceeds of these drives are put towards the purchase of nutritious food products that will be distributed to hungry families in Greene County,” Tustin said.