The Kiwanis Club of Hermosa Beach hosts a blood drive 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 28 at the club hall, 2515 Valley Drive, off the southern end ofHermosaValleyPark.
The drive is sponsored by the American Red Cross, which since 1940 has supplied about 40 percent of the nation’s blood supply.
“This is the fifth Blood Drive we worked on with the Hermosa Beach Kiwanis Club. At the last one we collected 30 units of blood and may have saved 82 lives,” said Beach Cities Red Cross spokesperson Alice Lan. “Each whole blood unit saves up to three lives.”
Donors must be 17 or older, weigh at least 110 pounds and be in good general health. Donating takes about 10 minutes; a sterile needle is used only once and then discarded.
According to the Red Cross, every two seconds someone in the U.S. needs blood due to a life-threatening illness, serious injury, or accident. More than 38,000 blood transfusions are needed every day.
More than one million people are diagnosed with cancer each year and many will need blood, sometimes daily during chemotherapy treatments. A single car accident victim can require as many as 100 pints of blood.
“Blood cannot be manufactured, it must come from generous donors and be used within approximately 42 days of collection, so the need is constant,” said Kiwanis blood drive committee chair Mickey McRae.
To make a donor appointment, see redcrossblood.org and enter sponsor code Hermosa Kiwanis, or contact Mickey McRae at 310-372-6939 or mickmacr@aol.com. Identification is required.
Donors will receive a free “six-box” of chocolate-covered fruit from Edible Arrangements, admission for two to the Laugh Factory, and they will be eligible to enter a regional drawing for a $500 gas card.
