An urgent-need blood drive in Bay Terrace received donations from more than 100 generous Queens residents in the midst of a national blood shortage caused by COVID-19.
The Ninth Annual Summer Blood Drive was co-hosted by Assemblyman Edward Braunstein and the New York Blood Center on Thursday, Aug. 5, at The Bay Terrace shopping center. According to the lawmaker, “more than 300 lives will be saved” thanks to blood donations from last week.
“I’m proud to announce that over 100 northeast Queens residents answered the call for urgently needed blood donations at my office’s 9th Annual Summer Blood Drive on Aug. 5,” Braunstein said on Facebook. “Thanks to their generosity, more than 300 lives will be saved.”
In addition to the lifesaving good deed, all donors received a free, limited edition New York Mets T-shirt and were entered into a sweepstakes to win six tickets to a game.
Since the onset of COVID-19, nonprofits like the New York Blood Center and American Red Cross continue to experience major blood shortages due to an increase in trauma cases, organ transplants and elective surgeries that were put on hold during the pandemic.
In a report by City Limits, NYBC’s Executive Director Andrea Cefarelli said that hundreds of school blood drives were canceled during COVID-19 and community-based drives were reduced from 550 a month to about 350 a month, which also contributed to the national blood shortage.
Over the next few months, the New York Blood Center is hosting multiple blood donation drives in Queens neighborhoods. Visit donate.nybc.org/donor/schedules/geo to find the location of the nearest donation event.
