Jacksonville, FL (November 9, 2018) – Councilman Becton and LifeSouth Community Blood Center helped save local lives by hosting the first District 11 Blood Drive.
The blood drive was hosted at the Southeast Regional Library from noon to 6pm on Friday before Veterans Day using LifeSouth’s Bloodmobile, a large bus equipped with all the tools and furniture necessary to donate blood safely and comfortably.
The idea of hosting a blood drive came to Councilman Becton after he donated blood for his first time back in July at the Grand Opening of LifeSouth’ s new blood center in Deerwood Center off Baymeadows Way. During an interview with Channel 4 New4Jax, Councilman Becton discussed how easy it is to donate and how he wants to help donate more regularly and to work with LifeSouth on future community blood drives.
“For all those residents like me, who have never donated blood, the process is too easy,” Councilman Becton stated. “These professionals here at LifeSouth make it welcoming, painless and safe, so that if you are apprehensive about doing something like this, believe me don’t be, I am sharing with you how easy it is to help save a life and directly benefit your community.”
Councilman Becton concluded the interview promising that the next time he donated blood would be at a District 11 Blood Drive. After four months of planning with LifeSouth, Councilman Becton stuck to his promise and was the first one to donate a pint of blood along with his District 11 Executive Council Assistant, Tiziana Onstead.
This blood drive is happening during a very important time of the year because blood donations drop significantly during the holiday season, according to LifeSouth. All blood donations will help patients at our local hospitals, which includes Wolfson’s Children’s Hospital, Memorial, Orange Park and all Baptist locations. The goal for the District 11 Blood Drive was to receive 10 donations. By the end of the blood drive at 6pm Councilman Becton and LifeSouth not only reached the goal of 10, but surpassed it, receiving 13 donations.
LifeSouth’s Donor Recruiter thanked Councilman Becton in an email following the blood drive.
It read:
“I wanted to thank you for helping us host a great first blood drive at the Southeast Regional Library on Friday, November 9. We were able to receive 13 donations and reach close to our daily goal of 18 donations and 2 automations. We thank you for your support and the time that you put in to help us spread the word about the importance of blood donation.” “
Those donations are able to save up to 39 lives in our local hospitals here in Jacksonville. Every donation counts and everything that you have done to help promote the blood drive helped to make a difference. Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns as we are always striving to improve our donor and chairperson relationship. We are looking forward to hearing back about more blood drive dates. We do have dates open for next year.”
“Please let us know and we would be glad to set-up and another blood drive with you. Thank you so much for everything.”
LifeSouth hosts nearly 2,000 blood drives a month, according to its website. The non-profit community blood bank “serves more than 100 hospitals in Alabama, Florida and Georgia, with more than 30 donor centers and 45 blood mobiles.”
In order to give blood, you must be in good health, 17 years or older (or 16 with parental permission), weigh at least 100 pounds and show a valid photo I.D.
Councilman Becton plans on working with LifeSouth again in 2019 to host another District 11 Blood Drive.
To learn more about LifeSouth, Visit:
