Red Cross blood drive a community effort

The Red Cross Bloodmobile set up at the Imperial city gym last Thursday.  
    Liz Mollendor, blood drive coordinator, said it was the smoothest running drive in a long time. No one had to wait for more than five or six minutes.
    They collected 67 units of whole blood and 23 power red (double red) units, totalling 90 units. There were 83 donors present.
    This was the first time the community blood drive, under Mollendor, was held at the city gym, she said. The location afforded volunteers and donors alike a convenient area for parking and plenty of space for setting up the various stations inside the gym.
    Mollendor said Red Cross personnel thought this would be an excellent space for future blood drives.
    The next community blood drive will be held in May 2018 at the city gym.
    Future student scholarship blood drives will be held in November, January and March in the Shorthorn gymnasium at the school and at the city gym in July. The next scheduled student blood drive will be held Nov. 13 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
    Mollendor said that she is impressed with this community and its willingness to work together to make the blood drives successful. The whole community gets involved by donating food and individual time, not to mention the donors themselves. Everyone pitches in to help. It is amazing, she said.
    “It takes a community to make something like this a success,” she said, “It’s humbling to be a part of.”