As the New York Blood Center (NYBC) says, stepping on a Lego brick with your bare foot hurts, doesn't it? So does hitting your thumb with a hammer! A lot of things hurt, but donating blood to saves lives is not one of them.
This year, a rise in the number of trauma cases, organ transplants and elective surgeries that require blood products has depleted inventories, so the need for blood donors is great.
For over 11 years, the Denville Rotary Club and the Denville Sunrise Rotary Club have sponsored monthly blood drives with NYBC. Thanks to the generous donors from Denville and surrounding towns, 2021 is proving to be an especially successful year for the Clubs.
Through July of this year, the two Rotary Clubs have combined to collect 400 units of blood, saving 1,200 lives, which surpasses 2019 and even 2020 during the height of the pandemic. The last blood drive, on July 14th, netted 53 units of blood. If they can maintain the current pace for the rest of this year, the Clubs will exceed last year's volume by 6%. According to NYBC, in a geographical area with almost 300 active blood drives, Denville's two Rotary Clubs rank #8 in the number of donations received.
The next NYBC Rotary sponsored blood drive is August 25, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Denville Municipal Building, 1 St. Mary's Place. If you would like to donate, please call 800-933-2566. Just one donation can save up to 3 lives!