The American Red Cross and a local state lawmaker are partnering to get lots of blood donated and new blood donors registered starting later this month. The goal of Senator Bill Weber’s “Five Towns of Rockland Blood Drive Challenge” is to use this friendly competition to get more people as donors, and increase the blood supply. Stephanie Dunn-Ashley is the CEO of the Metro New York North Chapter of the American Red Cross, and she says summertime often requires the most blood, but there’s also fewer donations during the same time period…
Senator Weber says it’s a friendly competition between the towns, but the winning town will get bragging rights until the next competition…
Two prizes will be awarded in the contest, one for the most blood collected and another for the most newly-registered Red Cross blood donors. This competition between Rockland’s five towns will take place July 30th in Ramapo, the 31st in Orangetown, August 1st in Stony Point, August 2nd in Clarkstown and August 3rd in Haverstraw. The Thruway Authority will light up the Tappan Zee Bridge in red on the night of the first blood drive to help spread awareness of this life-saving initiative. For more information, including locations and how to pre-register, click here.