This report was submitted by Kaywyn J. Beswick, R.N., C.A.P.A./Morrison American Red Cross Blood Drive Coordinator.
I recently received an email from the American Red Cross, stating ARC has designated our drives as being included in the “Premiere Blood Partner Program.” This means that we in Morrison have given a minimum of 50 donations per year and an average of more than 30 units per drive. We actually average around 250-300 units annually! I am so very proud of our generous community.
It was a cool, crisp Friday morning on January, 12, when the first ARC blood drive of 2018 was held in the Heritage Hall of Morrison United Methodist Church, 200 W. Lincolnway, Morrison, IL. The drive was sponsored by the Methodist Church Mission Group. They provided the kitchen management, purchased/prepared food, and did a great job serving the lunch for the blood donors. The women who did such a fine job were Jean Tichler and Mary Vos; these two ladies from MUMC group are always a terrific help to me. Many thanks to Morrison United Methodist Church for allowing us to use their great facility. Appreciation is extended to the Kiwanis for their long-time faithfulness of unloading and reloading the truck on blood drive days. Although they will no longer be able to assist us, we are grateful for the many years that they have helped the ARC truck staff. My continued gratitude goes to the tremendously-dependable volunteers who man the stations throughout the drive room. They were Marian Dykema, Marcia Haag, Sandy Schroeder, Bridie Bartnicke, Marilyn Habben, Marilyn Akker, and, last, but certainly not least, Carole Patton, who manned three stations all at once, when one volunteer cancelled, and another did not show up. Carole gets a gold star for the day! Morrison has the greatest volunteers.
The blood donors in our area are the best, too. We awarded two pins to two devoted givers; they were Kari Forster–with a one-gallon pin–and Brad Bielema–with an eight-gallon pin. These two people alone have helped save 216 lives! We had seven double-red-cell donors: Ellen Smith, Dale Belt, Jack Bland, James Shirk, Cal Vandermyde, Vaughn Maxfield, and Ron Shank. These fabulous contributors aided 21 lives in the approximate one hour for donation time.
The complete list of the 55 presenters were: Dale Beswick, Kim Mulnix, Lorna Temple, Vicki Carroll, Randy Kuehl, Julie Damhoff, Lynn Reimer, Susan Ottens, Renee Vanderlaan, Kelcie Hohlen, Ken Gooley, Stephanie Vavra, Dave Stern, Craig Brady, Joyce Hamstra, Keith Hamstra, Kristine Honeycutt, Chris Hawkins, Pam Shank, Mark Schuler, Destiny Sumner, Marian Dykema, Luke Vander Bleek, Chance Muntean, Watisha Muntean, Connie Swanson-DeSpain, Carolyn Aiken, Nan Carlson, Susan Noble, Kaywyn Beswick, Dominic Mucci, Nancy Shank, Michael DeSpain, Susan Gomez, Joe R. Bielema, and 11 people who did not want their names published as blood donors. I am very thankful for all who come through the doors to support our blood drives.
The March blood drive will be on Friday, March 9, from noon to 6:00 p.m., at Morrison United Methodist Church. Our sponsor in March is Bethesda Lutheran Church. I hope to see you there. Happy Spring!