The American Red Cross Blood Drive was held on Tuesday, August 8, 2024, at the Clark County Rehabilitation & Living Center in Owen. The drive collected 95 units, exceeding the goal of 78 units. With the large number of filled appointments, Red Cross increased the number of available appointments from 98 to 114. This allowed for walk-ins throughout the day. Those achieving milestones were Lynn VanWinkle, 10 gallons; Ann Teska, Marcus Hurst, Dainal Nosbisch, Laverne Hoover and Nathan Kuhns, 9 gallons; Allen Burkholder, Lucille Nolt and Jay Nolt, 3 gallons; Marie Sauder, Gail Burbey, Edna Hurst and Marie Burkholder, 2 gallons. It was great to see five first time donors, Erica Gettler, Ezequiel Casarrubias, Jorden Hoover, Lisa Martin and Annetta Martin. Thank you to everyone for stepping up to donate the gift of life.

Our dedicated volunteer workers for the blood drive were: Shirley Brecht, Sister Margaret Trzebiatowski, Carol Oryszczyn, Chriss Plautz, Susie Sholes, Marge Oryszczyn, Tracy Rau, Marilyn Borgeson, John and Linda Barna. As we have no drive in June, we celebrated by handing out ice cream bars which were donated by Martin’s Fresh Market and Edna Pauly. Use of a freezer for the day was donated by Northwoods Sales. CheChe Myer donated crackers, Red Cross again brought the packaged treats, water and juice with Prevail Bank donating napkins, Also, thank you to Nasonville Dairy for the cheese trays, Clark County Dairy Promotion for the milk, and Clark County Rehab and Living Center for the use of their facility.

The next blood drive will be Tuesday, October 8, 2024, in the multi-purpose room at the Clark County Rehabilitation & Living Center in Owen. Please consider scheduling an appointment to donate blood in advance. If you can’t keep your appointment, please cancel 24 hours in advance so someone else may fill that spot. For those who can’t make an appointment, midafternoon is usually a good time for walk-ins. You can use Rapid Pass to make appointments and also speed up the donation process. For appointments or to volunteer, please give me a call at: 715-229-4320.

Again, to everyone who helped in any way, thank you for the GREAT job! Together we are saving lives.

Have a wonderful fall harvest!! See you in October!!