Kaywyn J. Beswick, R.N./Morrison ARC Blood Drive Coordinator, submitted this report.
The 6th and last Morrison American Red Cross Blood Drive of 2016 was held on Thursday, November 17, at Morrison United Methodist Church. We cannot begin to thank the Methodists enough for allowing us to host our drives in Heritage Hall. The facility is the perfect size, with a large kitchen, several restrooms, and in a central, easy-access location with lots of parking. Thank you some much, UMC!
The drive was sponsored by St. Mary’s Parish, for the second November in a row. They did a great job preparing and serving the food and drinks and manning some of the stations in the room. Those Catholic parishioners purchasing groceries, cooking/preparing food, and/or assisting at a station were Lana Nugent, Betsy Prombo, Deb Hauptman, Shirley Blasdell, Fran Plude, Connie Helms, Fran Norman, Dani Vance, Jackie Jevne, Bridie Bartnicki, Sandy Schroeder, Vern Latwesen, and Kaywyn Beswick. I am so appreciative to you all. You all did a great job!
The rest of the dependable volunteers helping man stations were Marian Dykema, Marcia Haag, Marilyn Akker, Carol Patton, and Marilyn Habben. I am so grateful to my regular volunteers; they almost always say “yes” when I call them. Also, a heartfelt thank-you to the Morrison Kiwanis, who faithfully come unload the truck in the morning and return to reload it in the evening. They were Nick Becker, Kris and Bart Bielema, and Len and Laveda Ashlin.
Last, but certainly not least, I want to thank the generous donors who came out in droves. We had a tremendous turn-out! Fifty-two wonderful people came to help save lives that day. We had a “first-time” blood donor, but she did not sign her name to be in the newspaper or on thecity1.com website. She said that she “overcame (her) fear,” and gave a unit of whole blood, helping save three lives. She received a round of applause when she completed the donation, as she was walking to the canteen table. She was awarded a “first-timer” pin.
We had three other folks receive pins. They were another woman (who did not sign to have her name published) who was given a two-gallon pin; Kaywyn Beswick, obtaining a nine-gallon pin; Jim Eissens picking up a six-gallon pin. Jim also donated Double-Red-Cells, along with seven other people, including Tom Demay, Don E. Smith, John “Jack” Bland, Dave Stern, and three others who did not want their names published./p>
The rest of the superb donors who came in, to give some of their time and the personal gift of themselves, were Sandy Huizenga, Jamie Dauphin, Ava Valdez, Kim Mulnix, Keith Wiersema, Jim Huber, Lynn Reimer, Randy Kuehl, Brad Bielema, Stephanie Vavra, Janie Truitt, Cheryl Geiger, Allie Lyons, Destiny Sumner, Alexis Cassiberry, Chris Hawkins, Kristine Honeycutt, Millie Schaver, Evan Haag, Watisha W. Muntean, Connie Tegeler, Marian Dykema, Beth Wroble, Jim Prombo, Margaret Barr, Callie Bush, Tim West, Renee Vanderlaan, Steve Miley, Susan Noble, Jill Vegter, Nancy Shank, Ron Shank, and seven persons who did not want their names in print.
Amazingly, there were only four deferrals, which is a low number, and that helped us exceed our goal. Twelve people were “walk-in” donors without appointments, which is usually about 1/3 of my drive.
I apologize to the four people who had to leave before donating, due to time constraints, and the unusual slowness of the day, with ARC staff training new employees. But please realize that the donors with appointments are taken in before any walk-in donors. This is why we encourage potential donors to make appointments, as this ensures them a quicker “in and out” time. I always tell people that they can come in two hours late, four hours early; we don’t punish anyone for not being on time. In fact, if you make an appointment, the ARC sends us more staff. They do not count “walk-in” donors towards staffing. In fact, I cannot even put walk-in names into the computer anymore. So, please, consider making an appointment time to assure us more staff, to make things go more quickly.
Please join us for the next ARC blood drive, which will start off the year 2017, on Thursday, January 19. It will be held from noon to 6:00 p.m., at Morrison United Methodist Church. Bring a friend, spouse, neighbor, or coworker. The January blood drive sponsor will be Kunes Country Chevrolet in Morrison.