The Shops at Atlas Park, in partnership with New York Blood Center (NYBC), surpassed 1,000 blood donations after hosting several blood drives since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The shopping mall, located at 8000 Cooper Ave. in Glendale, will continue to host a series of blood drives every Friday, from Oct. 2 through Oct. 9. They hope to collect more than 60 donations, which can help more than 150 patients.
“The Shops at Atlas Park has played host to several blood drives with the New York Blood Center, and has recently passed the 1,000 donation milestone,” said State Senator Joseph P. Addabbo Jr. “The blood donations made by the community have been used to save over 3,000 lives. I would like to thank those that come out and make the life-saving blood donations, as well as Peter DeLucia of Atlas Park and the New York Blood Center for their continued partnership, and we hope to see these amazing events continue.”
Blood drives at The Shops at Atlas Park will take place from 1 to 7 p.m. In October, participating donors will be given $5 vouchers towards a purchase at the Cooper Beer Garden.
NYBC says it only takes one hour to donate, and a single donation could help save several lives.
“We are very thankful to have so many selfless members in the community that have taken time to participate in the blood drives and we’re looking forward to continuing to connect the NYBC with the Atlas Park community,” said Peter DeLucia, chairperson of NYBC.
Mobile blood drives hosted by high schools, colleges, businesses and other organizations made up about 75 percent of the region’s incoming blood supply before COVID-19, but the number of blood drives has dropped by two-thirds this year due to the pandemic.
NYBC began hosting a limited number of drives again this summer, but they are far from the number of drives per month needed to support area hospitals.
They are taking extra precautions to help prevent the person-to-person spread of COVID-19. People are not eligible to donate if they’re experiencing a cold, sore throat, respiratory infection or flu-like symptoms.
Additional information on donor eligibility, COVID-19 precautions and how to become a partner with NYBC is available here.
