Township, students partner for blood drive

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Courtesy of Cherry Hill Mayor’s Office
Volunteers had their blood taken for donation at the township’s recent blood drive.

Cherry Hill partnered with the American Red Cross on Aug. 1 for a five-hour blood drive at the Carmen Tilelli Community Center.

The drive was planned through the Red Cross Leaders Save Lives Program, an initiative that encourages high-school and college students to organize and lead blood drives during breaks from school. According to the Red Cross – the largest single provider of blood and blood products nationally – someone in the U.S. needs blood or platelets every two seconds, and 29,000 units of blood are needed to keep up with the daily demand.

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The Save Lives program also offers scholarships and educational opportunities to students who choose to participate in and plan drives, as well as training and toolkits to help them smoothly run drives. Two students from Cherry Hill East led the community center drive, meeting all of the goals they set out to achieve.

Teens from both East and the Red Cross were the first to initiate the sponsorship, reaching out to the township to arrange the drive.

The event also aligned with Mayor Dave Fleisher’s wellness campaign and the township offered the Tilelli center as the drive’s location.

“Partnering with the American Red Cross and two of our Cherry Hill high-school students to host a blood drive at the community center is a powerful way to bring people together for the greater good,” Fleisher said. 

One blood donation can go to multiple people and can help save multiple lives, including those with severe physical trauma or chronic diseases like cancer or sickle cell anemia, both of which can often require multiple transfusions.

“It gives our residents the chance to make a real impact by donating blood and helping those in need,” Fleisher noted. 

Certain types of blood and plasma are in the highest demand; type O negative blood and type AB plasma can be given to patients with any blood type. O negative blood is only present in 7% of the U.S. population, with AB plasma only present in 4%. 

Brian Bauerle is the chief of staff and acting business administrator for the mayor’s office. 

“It’s very consistent with the mayor’s wellness campaign that he’s been working on throughout the year,” Bauerle explained. “So it was a perfect opportunity for us to partner on this program. The event went great. We were happy to host it.” 

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