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32nd Annual Operation Blood Drive

32nd Annual Operation Blood Drive

Jun 18, 2019 | Events, News

All Hands on Deck–It’s Operation Blood Drive

It’s back for the 32nd time! The Blood Connection is partnering with WLOS ABC 13 in Asheville for Operation Blood Drive on June 27th, a day where we call on the community to step up and donate blood together. It’s a simple and easy way to give a life-saving gift to a neighbor. Bring a friend and save even more lives!

This year, there are SIX locations, including the WLOS TV station! Every blood donor will receive an OBD t-shirt and $20 gift card.

DYK: TBC supplies blood to almost every Western North Carolina hospital. That means when you donate with TBC, you’re helping save lives in YOUR community. To learn more about which hospitals we serve, visit our areas of service page.

Mark your calendars and join TBC and WLOS on June 27th! Click on any location below to make an appointment.

7:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

WLOS Station

110 Technology Drive

Asheville NC 28803

8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Grace Lutheran Church

1245 6th Ave West  

Hendersonville NC 28791

12:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Belk at Asheville Mall

3 South Tunnel Road

Asheville NC 28805

7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

The Blood Connection Donation Center

225 Airport Road

Arden, NC 28704 

7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Mission Hospital Memorial Campus

509 Biltmore Ave

Asheville NC 28801

2:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Fields Auto Group

225 Smokey Park Hwy

Asheville, NC 28806

Thank you for saving lives in the Western North Carolina community!

*Appointments are recommended. While supplies last. Blood donors must be 16 years old with parental consent, or 17 years old or older to donate. All donors must bring a photo ID.

Sundae for Sunday

Sundae for Sunday

Jun 12, 2019 | Events, News

We all scream for ice cream!

TBC is putting a sweet spin on Sundays this Summer (wow, say that 5 times fast) with our Sundae for Sunday promotion! On every Sunday June-August, all blood donors will enjoy a $20 gift card to a local ice cream shop! You’re welcome…

This promotion is only available at our 7 TBC Donation Centers. On Sundays we’re open from 7am to 5pm. Just donate blood (includes plasma and platelets) and you’ve got your ticket to a local sweet treat! 

Participating Ice Cream Shops (not subject to change):

Asheville

Ultimate Ice Cream

Spartanburg

Hub City Scoops

Greenville

Luna Rosa

Seneca

N the Midst Ice Cream

Greenwood

Bruster’s

Easley

Good Karma Ice Cream

Raleigh

Fresh

Donors will receive 2 $10 gift cards to be used at the locations listed above depending on the center locations, while supplies last. All donors must bring a valid photo ID and be 16 years old with parental consent, 17 years old without. Click the button below to make an appointment (recommended but not necessary). To find the nearest center, click here.

Donate Today

Join Us if Country’s in Your Blood

Join Us if Country’s in Your Blood

Jun 4, 2019 | Events, News

Is Country in Your Blood?

If the answer is HECK YEA — we’ve got the rodeo just for you! 

Join the wonderful staff at our Spartanburg and Greenville Donation Centers, along with WSSL 100, for a country-lovin’ blood drive! They’ll have your favorite country tunes playing when you come donate with us on June 14th and 15th. The simple act of donating blood will get you 2 tickets to hang with Locash, Russell Dickerson, Dylan Scott, and Rachel Wammack, and Joe Lasher at the Pickin’ in the Park concert in Spartanburg! We’ll also hook you up with a Country’s in My Blood t-shirt (see above) to show off that country pride.

Summer is the perfect time to give back and kick back! Bring your friends and make it a party, the more the merrier! 

Pickin’ in the Park tickets are ONLY available for donors at the 2 centers below, while supplies last. Gift cards are available instead of concert tickets at our mobile Country Blood Drive locations at Cabela’s and Walmart. 

Spartanburg Center: 270 N. Grove Park Dr 

Friday, June 14th

11A until we run out!

2 Pickin’ in the Park tickets and Country t-shirt

Sign up here

Cabela’s – Greenville: 1025 Woodruff Road

Friday, June 14th 

12-5P

Country t-shirt and $20 Cabela’s Gift Card

Sign up here

Greenville Center: 435 Woodruff Road

Saturday, June 15th

2P until we run out!

2 Pickin’ in the Park tickets and Country t-shirt

Sign up here

Walmart – Laurens: 922 E Main St

Saturday, June 15th

11A-7P

Country t-shirt and $20 Walmart Gift Card

Sign up here

BUT WAIT, there’s more! WSSL 100 will enter all donors into a chance to win a signed guitar from the artists at Pickin’ in the Park.

Mark your calendars!

— Pickin’ in the Park — June 19 — Barnet Park — 8P — Bring your blankets and lawn chairs! —

*Appointment recommended at our centers. While supplies last. Blood donors must be 16 years old with parental consent, or 17 years old or older to donate. All donors must bring a photo ID.

Thank you for saving lives in our community!

Honoring Our Fallen Soldiers

Honoring Our Fallen Soldiers

May 22, 2019 | All News and Views, Events, News

TBC Honors Our Community’s Fallen Soldiers

In recognition of Memorial Day, The Blood Connection is honored fallen soldiers with a commemorative 4-day blood drive. TBC remembers those selfless heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice to serve and protect this great nation. As an organization whose main mission is to save lives, TBC thanks those brave men and women for their service.

To honor the fallen and their families, The Blood Connection teamed up with the Wounded Warrior Project. For every center donor from May 24-27, TBC gave $10 to the BCA (Blood Centers of America) Special Forces Wounded Warriors Fund. The organization gives back to U.S. Special Forces injured warriors, caregivers, and family members, to raise money and awareness to those who are serving or who have served. Hundreds of people in our community sacrificed their time to make a blood donation in honor of fallen soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice. Because of those donors, The Blood Connection gave more than $7,000 to the BCA Special Forces Wounded Warriors Fund! (This fund has no affiliation to the Wounded Warrior Project/Fund.)

Donors also dedicated these patriotic pinwheels to a loved one or fallen soldier. They stood proud in our centers’ lawns in rememberance. TBC is proud of this community. Thank you for showing your gratitude!

 

Quoted above is Kenneth Greene. He donates regularly with TBC in memory of his father, an army veteran. While the sacrifice of donating blood comes nowhere near to the sacrifice fallen soldiers have made, it’s a sincere action of an appreciative community. Not only does the blood donation help save local lives, the monetary donation goes towards a better life for a veteran. What better way to honor a life lost than with the act of saving one?

Each blood donation has the power to save up to three lives. Together as a community, help show these local heroes and their families that we support them too.

TBC blood donors have been getting quite the praise from other local blood donation centers for their dedication to honoring those who serve. 

I wanted to take a moment of your time and publicly give “kudos” to The Blood Connection (TBC) for the terrific Memorial Day promotion they conducted.  During the Memorial Day weekend, TBC invited blood and platelet donors to come and support / honor members of the military through blood donations.  In return, TBC donated $10 to the BCA Special Forces Wounded Warrior Fund.  This promotion proved to be very successful! 

The Blood Connection recently presented a check for $7000 to the Fund! 

I want to publicly thank Delisa English and her excellent staff at TBC for a terrific idea and for the incredible gift!  This was a very successful promotion that resulted in a generous contribution that will go a long way to help some very worthwhile service personnel and their families.

The most recent request from the Care Coalition that we supported really encapsulates why the BCA Special Forces Wounded Warrior Fund was created…

  • There is a young sergeant who was injured on a parachute jump during a training exercise at Fort Bragg in N.C..  
  • As if his injury wasn’t difficult enough for him and his family, his unborn daughter has been diagnosed with Trisomy 18 (also called “Edwards Syndrome”).  She also has a heart defect that will require open heart surgery after birth.
  • This young soldier’s wife is seeing a specialist at a Children’s Hospital in the Midwest.   This is where the baby will be born and the surgery performed.  The baby will remain in the hospital for 8 weeks.
  • The wife is having complications from the pregnancy.
  • The father will be in training at Fort Bragg.
  • Trisomy 18 is a genetic disorder that often causes a combination of birth defects.  These defects can include severe intellectual disabilities, as well as health problems involving any or all organs in the body.  Unfortunately, most babies born with Trisomy 18 die by age 1.  But a small percentage can survive beyond the first birthday.
  • This young family has exhausted their savings as a result of these issues.   

This is an incredibly sad situation for this young family.  But we are very pleased to be able to help them in a small way by assisting with some of their travel expenses.

If you ever wondered if the Fund helps individuals, now you know. 

– David Allen, President & CEO of Mississippi Blood Services

When donors give local with The Blood Connection, it stays local. TBC is the primary blood provider for local hospitals, which means when anyone there needs blood, TBC supplies it. While trauma is the most obvious reason for blood usage, cancer patients are usually the number one recipients of blood products. Donations are also needed for burn victims, premature infants, surgeries, and those with blood disorders, to name a few. When community members share blood, healing happens, and families remain whole. 

Blood donors must be healthy, weigh at least 110 pounds, and be 17 years old or 16 with written parental consent. Our centers are open Monday-Friday 7am-7pm and Saturday-Sunday 7am-5pm. Click here to make an appointment or to call a specific center.

Donate Today

Featured Artist: Cindy Hammond

Featured Artist: Cindy Hammond

May 20, 2019 | All News and Views, Events, Featured Artist, News

Featured Artist: Cindy Hammond

My interest in Art began at an early age with my mother and grandmother crafting, knitting, sewing, and expressing their creativity in many ways.  My interest in 2-D art began in high school and further developed in college as a Studio Arts major concentrating in Drawing and Design.

After graduation, I worked as a designer and then entered the field of graphics.  Taking time out to raise my family, I didn’t re-ignite my love for Art until the early 2000’s admiring the works of many painters.  First, working in watercolors, years later, I then moved to oils and acrylics.  Today, I primarily work in oils and love the texture, color, and values achieved in the richly pigmented paints.  I consider myself self taught in painting and continue to take workshops to further my techniques, skill, and knowledge of painting.  I have worked with many seasoned artists throughout my journey.  To name a few, Mary Segars, Jacki Newell, Alice Williams, Gary Bodner, Jeff Erikson, Mark Bettis, Leslie Saeta, and Sandra Roper.  They all have inspired me in different ways and I feel fortunate to have studied with these exceptional artists.

I am a contemporary oil painter working in both experimental and representational themes.  I create abstracts in an oil and cold wax medium lending itself to a freer form of art, focusing on, form, color, line, texture, markings, and movement.  When I paint traditional oils, I like a loose brushstroke, creating soft edges, harmonious color, simplicity, and a painterly style.  I like to work from photographs and use a limited palette to maintain harmony in the painting.

I hope you enjoy viewing my art as much as I enjoy creating it.  All of the art are original pieces created in my studio located in Fountain Inn, SC at 301 Farmwood Drive, Fountain Inn, SC  29644.

I can be reached at 864-270-5063 and via email at clhammond@charter.net or cindyhammondfineart@gmail.com.

NC high school student honored for work with TBC

NC high school student honored for work with TBC

Apr 8, 2019 | Events, News

United Way Fall Festival
Temoor receives check
United Way Fall Festival
United Way Fall Festival

Temoor Dard awarded scholarship 

Wake County High School Student Writes Inspiring Letter Encouraging Blood Donation

A Panther Creek High School senior is hoping to bring back a life-saving tradition to the Wake County School System. Temoor Dard is a loyal blood drive host for The Blood Connection, a community blood center in Central and Eastern North Carolina. Dard has impacted hundreds of lives in his community through his hard work with TBC. Before he leaves high school, he’s pushing to make one last change. Dard has asked the Wake County School System to allow blood drives in schools again, so other students can get involved in making a difference too.

In a letter to Wake County School administrators, Dard wrote: “Not only does this community service project impact thousands of lives, it helps bring the community closer together, and inspires others to make a difference in their community. The end goal isn’t just about reaching a numeric goal, but also inspiring students to become active in their communities, whether it is by organizing book drives, growing their own gardens, etc…As a whole, Wake County high schools can save thousands of lives just by hosting blood drives once or twice a year.”

On Saturday April 6th, Dard hosted a high school blood drive with Panther Creek and Green Hope high school students in the Whole Foods parking lot on Arco Street in Cary, NC. The drive collected more than 100 units, saving approximately 300 lives. Before the drive started, Dard was also awarded a $500 scholarship because of his success with TBC. 

Dard has been leaving a lasting mark on his community throughout his high school career. He’s been involved with blood drives since he was a freshman at PCHS. Before The Blood Connection became the primary blood supplier for UNC Rex Health Care in 2018, Dard had already hosted four blood drives on his own. His first drive with TBC last year was his most successful, bringing in 120 donations that helped save approximately 350 lives. Since the Wake County Public School System does not allow blood drives in schools, Dard has made it his mission to change that.

Dard’s grandfather is his inspiration for becoming a blood donation advocate. His grandfather had multiple blood transfusions during open heart surgery when Dard was younger. His inspiration couples well with his intense passion to make a difference in his community and to bring people together.

“I want to leave an impact on my community. I want to have a legacy of quantifiable impact. I find satisfaction in helping others and leading projects for the greater good,” Dard told TBC. “The issue of a blood shortage hit close to home, as I knew what it felt like to almost lose a loved on… It’s fun to bring a community together in the act of saving lives.”

TBC is so grateful for Dard’s dedication to his community and willingness to serve as a blood drive host. He is truly an inspiration. He has not only affected the lives of local blood recipients, but their families too. He will surely make an even greater impact as a student at UNC Chapel Hill.  

The Raleigh Donation Center is located at 5925 Glenwood Avenue. It’s open Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m on the weekends. Blood donors must be healthy, weigh at least 110 pounds, and be 17 years old or 16 with written parental consent. Photo ID required. To reduce donation time, donors can make an appointment in advance at: https://thebloodconnection.org/

Check out the TBC High School Program, which awards students like Temoor who are impacting their communities through blood donation and hosting blood drives: https://thebloodconnection.org/events/school-programs/high-school-program/

 

Dear Wake County High School Administrators,

My name is Temoor Dard and I am a senior at Panther Creek High School in Wake County. I’ve been fortunate enough to have been able to direct blood drives ever since I was a freshman up until now. PCHS has been very consistent with the blood drive tradition, and due to our improving success, our partner, the Blood Connection (a blood bank serving the Triangle), has asked us to start this initiative across all high schools in Wake County. 

NC is facing a critical blood shortage, and the only way to address this problem is to get more people to donate blood, because blood is one of the few things we can’t artificially manufacture. Every pint of blood saves 3 lives and it only takes 15 minutes to donate. 

However, Wake County, as of January 2018, does not allow high schools to have blood drives on campus. Fortunately, PCHS has been very successful in hosting our first ever off campus blood drive last November, and we would like to help other high schools do the same. For some context, the blood drives on campus at PCHS consistently brought in 70-80 people, but our first off-campus blood drive brought in 154, doubling our previous total. That same level of success and more can be emulated throughout Wake County. As a whole, Wake County high schools can save thousands of lives just by hosting blood drives once or twice a year.

Not only does this community service project impact thousands of lives, it helps bring the community closer together, and inspires others to make an difference in their community. The end goal isn’t just about reaching a numeric goal, but also inspiring students to become active in their communities, whether it is by organizing book drives, growing their own gardens, etc. In the end, the option lies up to you to pursue this community service event.

Keep in mind, if you are interested in pursuing this event, the blood drive would most likely be held in April or May, depending on how fast it can be organized. It normally takes a little over a month for PCHS to fully organize their drives. Blood drives are held on the weekend to not interfere with school hours.

I’ve also attached a document below detailing the first steps you should take to start your blood drive initiative at your school. It details everything about points of contact at the Blood Connection, incentives, advertising, registration, set up, and more. 

If you have questions or concerns, please let me know and I will help you to the best of my ability. I look forward to working with you!

Thank you,

 

Temoor K. Dard

PCHS Blood Drive Director