What a great day for saving lives! We collected 265 units of blood on Tuesday. That is the largest, single-day collection ever recorded for Memorial Blood Centers. You and all of Lakeville should feel proud of this accomplishment.
There were 59 first-time ever donors. Welcome to a group of very special abnormal people. Only 37% of the population is able to donate and less than 10% do. There were 113 people who were first-time donors with Memorial Blood Centers. That number is important, because Memorial's blood stays in Minnesota and most of it goes to the Twin Cities area hospitals.
I have a story I would like to share.
My youngest daughter was in first grade and had fun riding her bike. After school, she would jump on that bike and just ride and ride up and down the sidewalk in front of our house. A regular Forrest Gump on wheels. She would wait for me to come home from work, and as soon as she saw my car, we would race to the driveway. As you would expect, she would always win. After I got out of the car, we would sit on the front steps and talk about each other's day. She would tell me about who she played with at recess, who had a birthday, and what she had for lunch. You know, important stuff. Eventually, she would ask me what I did that day. My response was usually pretty boring to her. But this particular day when she asked, "Daddy, what did you do today?" I responded, "I saved somebody's life." Her eyes got as big as saucers, and she went running into the house screaming, "Mommy, mommy, daddy saved somebody's life today." They both came running back to the front steps. By then I had proudly rolled up my sleeve to display the elastic wrap on my arm. That little six-year old girl is grown up now, and she donated with you at this blood drive.
Thank you to everyone who donated and everyone who tried to donate but couldn't. A special thank you to our sponsors and volunteers who put in the many hours to make this such a success. We should all thank Gordy Erickson, from Lakeville Trophy, who three years ago thought having a city-wide blood drive would be a great idea.
Please don't forget, you saved somebody's life.
Mike Cooper
Lakeville Rotary Club
Blood Drive Coordinator