CoServ blood drive collects enough donations to save up to 174 lives

CoServ, in partnership with the Lake Cities Chamber of Commerce, held its fifth blood drive earlier this month, collecting 58 units of blood, enough to help as many as 174 people.

"It was remarkable to witness so many Employees donating blood and helping save lives of people they will never meet," said Brian Read, a Job & Safety Specialist at CoServ.

While donating, Read mentioned to another donor that "getting an alert from the American Red Cross that his blood donation is headed to a specific hospital to help someone makes it all worth it."

In January, the American Red Cross announced that the blood reserves were at their lowest point in a decade, with less than 24 hours' supply on shelves and not enough blood drives being scheduled around the country to help replenish them.

Historically, these blood drives have been predominantly anchored by CoServ Employees, but on April 8 the public answered the call, too. Nearly fifty percent of donors were members of the public, easily the greatest turnout to date.

One volunteer who has continually stepped up and become a familiar face at CoServ's blood drives is Michelle McLaren, a member of the Lake Cities Chamber. Michelle has attended four of the five blood drives hosted by CoServ and even volunteered to work the registration table at the past three events.

"I am always glad for the opportunity to help my community by volunteering for events like a blood drive," Michelle said. "I am so glad that we have an organization like CoServ in the area that has these events."

CoServ will host a second blood drive later this year in mid-October at its headquarters in Corinth. Stay tuned for updates so we can help save more lives.