Kaywyn J. Beswick, R.N./Morrison ARC Blood Drive Coordinator, submitted this report.
The first American Red Cross blood drive in Morrison for the New Year was held at Morrison United Methodist Church, 200 W. Lncolnway, Morrison, IL, on Thursday, January 19, 2017, from noon to 6:00 p.m. The sponsor for the canteen was Kunes Country Auto Group in Morrison. Thank you, Kunes Country Auto Group, and especially Joe Bielema, the Service Manager, for taking on the sponsorship of the January drive and giving back to the community. We delight in your business for jumping on board as a sponsor. The KCAG staff provided the monies to feed the donors.
Some of the Methodist Mission Women managed the kitchen: purchasing, preparing, and serving sandwiches, fruit, cookies, snacks, and drinks. Thank you to Jean Tichler, Mary Vos, Vicki Carroll, Pat Marinangeli, and Deanna McLain from MUMC for your wonderful kitchen talents. I could not have done it without your expertise and help, ladies. As always, a huge commendation to Morrison United Methodist Church for allowing us the use of their Heritage Hall to host the blood drives, free of rent, with the exception of election days. Your hospitality is always appreciated.
Our indebtedness is to the Morrison Kiwanis Club members for their unfailing assistance in unloading the arriving truck in the morning, and the reloading of the departing truck in the evening. Thanks so much, Nick Becker, for your dependability.
Thank you to those who manned the stations at the blood drive. They were Marian Dykema, Marcia Haag, Carole Patton, Ron Wiersema, Deanna McLain, Sandy Schroeder, Bridie Bartnicki, Marilyn Akker, and Marilyn Habben.
Last, but never least, we cannot thank the blood donors enough for donating their time and precious blood products, to save lives in desperate need of transfusions. Words can never truly encompass my sincerest gratitude to this marvelous community and its hearts overflowing with generosity. We assuredly live in the greatest little town in the U. S. A. The blood drive had 48 fabulous people come through our doors, sacrificing their time and offering a personal gift of life. There were eight individuals who gave double-red-cells, counting as two units of packed red blood cells. They were Keith Wiersema, Sandra Huizenga, Leon VanKampen, Craig Brady, Robert Zuidema, Joe Bielema, Ron Shank, and one gentleman who did not want his name in the newspaper or on thecity1.com as a blood donor.
The completed list of terrific souls who gave time and treasure that day were Stephanie Vavra, Jamie Dauphin, Lynn Reimer, Kimberly Mulnix, Randy Kuehl, Cheryl Geiger, Renee Vanderlaan, Joyce Hamstra, Keith Hamstra, Barb Winandy, George Burke, Kristine Honeycutt, Chris Hamwkins, Evan Haag, Beth Wroble, Connie Swanson-DeSpain, Bradley Bielema, Marian Dykema, Jim Prombo, Tim West, Ryan Sutton, Jill Vegter, Julie Damhoff, Lisa Nice, Anthony Fletcher, Carolyn Aiken, Nancy Shank, Kari Forster, Bridget Eyrich, Julie Brown, Steve Miley, Ted Volckmann, Brooke Newman, and several names that were not to be printed in the newspaper or on thecity1.com, for reasons unbeknownst to me.
It is really unnerving to me, as I am not a reporter or journalist, to have a list that I ask people to sign to have their name published as a donor, where some do not sign it, but wanted to, and some place their name on it, when they did not intend to sign it. So, beginning in March there will be two clipboards: one for YES/publish my name and one for NO/do not publish my name. No donor will be scanned into the computer to start the donation process until they sign one sheet or the other. Hopefully, this will rid any confusion/mix-up when it comes to names being published.
Also, when I posted about the drive on my Facebook page that day, several commented with questions. One of my past volunteers told me that I should put questions and answers in the report. Like I stated earlier, I do not have a journalism degree and do not particularly enjoy writing essays. So, if anybody wants to submit questions, they can call me or message me. Also the American Red Cross website has a tremendous amount of information, from topics such as how to donate, who is eligible, what medications to avoid if donating blood, what prescription medications are not approved for people to donate, what to do if your hemoglobin is too low to donate, where and when other drives are being held, and how to host a drive. You can go to the website www.redcrossblood.org, or call 1-800-733-2767 (1-800-REDCROS.)
The next ARC blood drive will be Thursday, March 16, from noon to 6:00 p.m., at MUMC. Bring a friend, spouse, coworker, neighbor, or stranger. Come enjoy good food, great music, friendly conversation, and hometown hospitality–all while saving future lives!