Red Cross wins award for 2007-08 collections
By Becky Barclay
Published in News on September 1, 2008 12:21 PM
The Wayne County chapter of the American Red Cross has once again been recognized for its blood collections.
The chapter recently received a Celebration of Excellence Award for fiscal year 2007-08.
The award was presented by the Carolinas Blood Services Region in Greensboro.
"We achieved 90.5 percent of our blood goal," said Tammy Forrester, chapter blood services director. "That was a good thing."
The chapter's overall goal for the past fiscal year was 6,625. It collected 6,266 units of blood. But that amount had the potential to save 18,800 lives.
"We were down a little bit this year," Ms. Forrester said. "We're really not sure why. We've had less; we've had more. But we'll always take what we can get."
The chapter has received the award several times since 1997. Collections have ranged from 85 to 114 percent.
Ms. Forrester praised Wayne County's blood donors saying they come out and give not only their blood, but their time.
"They're giving something that they get nothing monetary back for," she said. "It's just out of the goodness of their heart. When donors give blood, they usually don't know who will get it. They just know it saves lives."
Ms. Forrester stressed that it's not the chapter that won the award, but the donors.
"That's whom we want to thank," she said.