National Initiatives raise awareness and help boost blood supplies during critical times. Click here to find out how to hold a national blood drive, an awareness campaign or a special program with members of America's Blood Centers.
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Predictable Shortages
- National blood supplies reach critically low levels during the winter holidays and summer months
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National Blood Donor Month
Barbershop Harmony Society
College Assistance Migrant Program Alumni Association (CAMPAA)
3 Lives
Life Across America
Thank A Donor
GIVE Campaign
Outstanding Corporate Citizen Program
Martina McBride Partnership
Y Donate
Media Inquires: Contact Mack C. Benton, M.J.
National Blood Donor Month
January is National Blood Donor Month (NBDM). To increase awareness of blood donation the nation's leading blood donation organizations come together to promote NBDM. First-time and regular donors are encouraged to make a difference to their communities by scheduling an appointment to give blood every January, and regularly thereafter. Remember, just one pint of blood can help save up to three lives.
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Barbershop Harmony Society
America’s Blood Centers partners with the Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS), a group of over 800 a capella choirs and quartets, for their annual North American blood drive, Singing for Life. The registered chapter’s choruses provide entertainment for both blood donors and staff during the blood drive. BHS works with local blood centers to increase donation and awareness for blood donations leading up to the summer and holiday months, sponsoring blood drives throughout the month of May.
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College Assistance Migrant Program Alumni Association (CAMPAA)
The College Assistance Migrant Program Alumni Association (CAMPAA) has partnered with America’s Blood Centers to sponsor the National César Chavez Blood Drive Challenge to raise awareness of the need for blood donation, especially within the Hispanic community. These blood drives, held throughout the month of March in honor of civil rights leader César Chavez, aim to encourage alumni and college students to give back to the community through blood donation. Each year the winning school receives a traveling trophy provided by America’s Blood Centers.
CAMPAA plans to expand this program in the future, with a goal of working with 500 colleges and universities. The program will also include other life-saving acts such as organ and tissue donation. Expanding on the original partnership, all college campuses, regardless of whether or not they have a CAMP program, can participate in the blood drive challenge. As of December 2009, CAMPAA had over 100 colleges enrolled or interested in the program.
Remington College has partnered with America’s Blood Centers and the Sickle Cell Disease Association of America to hold a series of blood drives at Remington College campuses across the country. The campaign is called “3 Lives” - because three lives may be saved for every one pint of blood donated. The blood drives focus on the need for minority donors - especially African-Americans. Blood drives take place in April as part of National Minority Health Month, June as part of World Blood Donor Day and September as part of Sickle Cell Awareness Month.
Life Across America
Life Across America is a nationwide blood drive through Larry Frederick’s cross country bicycle ride to promote the need for blood donations and to thank the blood donors nationally. Thanks to regular blood donors, Larry Frederick is alive today. The retired police officer was injured in the line of duty and received more than 100 pints of blood. Since his recovery in the early 1980s, Larry has become an ardent blood donation advocate.
The gift of life enables him to show his appreciation to donors nationwide through Life Across America. Larry and his daughter Adella will ride bicycles across the country for Life Across America 2010, replicating his original Life Across America ride in 1996. After completion of the Life Across America bike ride, Larry and Adella will drive back across the country, Phase II of his ride, stopping at blood centers along the way.
Thank A Donor
Thank A Donor is a social networking Web site aimed at creating a community that connects both people who donate blood and people who receive it. While most recipients and donors will never know each other, here visitors can meet people just like them, read their stories, see their pictures and inspire others to give.
Thank A Donor allows visitors to upload images, videos and a description of their connection to blood donation. Visitors can browse profiles or participate in a conversation, creating a personal profile and interacting with others. Thank A Donor also serves as an informational resource for those inspired by the conversation and interested in donating blood, time or making a financial contribution.
We invite you to join the conversation:
Thank - One donation has the ability to save three lives, thank the donors whose generosity makes the ultimate difference.
Share - Every day approximately 40,000 pints of blood are needed, each of those pints has a story to tell, share them here.
Connect - One out of every seven people entering a hospital will require blood, connect with many of the millions of people impacted by the generosity of blood donors.
Inspire - Fewer than one in ten people donate blood. Inspire others to give as they're able. Each of us has blood, many are able to give it, few do. Help change that.
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Give Champaign
America’s Blood Centers has partnered with Nexcare bandages to salute blood donors with a limited edition give bandage, which will be distributed at blood centers nationwide the week leading up to World Blood Donor Day, June 14. The Nexcare give program inspires Americans with a message of hope, and helps to spread the word by distributing limited-edition NexcareBandages marked with the word give.
A symbol for the cause, these high-performance bandages serve as a badge of honor for blood donors and encourage others to get involved. The program, started in 2009, coincides with the Annual celebration of World Blood Donor Day. World Blood Donor Day builds on the success of World Health Day 2000, which was devoted to the theme "Blood Saves Lives. Safe Blood Starts With Me." The event is intended to provide a special opportunity for a united, global celebration on a day that has particular significance: the birthday of Karl Landsteiner, the Nobel Prize winner who discovered the ABO blood group system. WBDD is designed to celebrate and thank those individuals who voluntarily donate their blood without any reward, except the knowledge that they have helped save lives, particularly those who give blood on a regular basis (two or more times each year). Please visit:
www.nexcare.com/give, to receive a free bandage that you can wear with pride in recognition of your personal contributions and efforts to encourage others to donate.
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Outstanding Corporate Citizen Program
America's Blood Centers’ corporate program Outstanding Corporate Citizen launched in 2009 to recognize businesses who are socially responsible and understand that being part of a local community is about more than providing jobs – it is also about creating a better and healthier community. To receive the seal of Outstanding Corporate Citizen companies must pledge to become a blood donation advocate by committing to conduct blood drives in partnership with America’s Blood Centers’ members in the communities in which the company operates. In January 2009, Johnson & Johnson was the first to receive the seal of Outstanding Corporate Citizen for their continued support of blood donation. Nexcare Bandages received the second seal of Outstanding Corporate Citizen in October 2009.
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Martina McBride Partnership
Martina McBride, country music superstar, formed a partnership with America’s Blood Centers to thank those who give the gift of life. She is passionate about her music, her family, and most especially her children, so she often supports causes that focus on the health and safety of kids in communities across the country. Martina understands the impact that the local blood supply has on the lives of premature infants, those battling childhood cancers and sickle cell anemia, as well as the many other blood related illnesses that effect sick children, and shows her support by not only thanking donors for their gift of blood donation, but also encouraging donations on a regular basis all year long.
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America’s Blood Centers and Donor Dialogue partnered to develop Ydonate, a Facebook application specifically designed to create value to both the blood donor and the blood center. The downloadable application is personalized for the blood donor and then localized to the blood center to generate donations and boost retention through an online community. Ydonate launched at the end of June 2009 and has gained more than 160 fans.
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