Planning A Blood Drive with the Red Cross

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1. Call your Red Cross representative to ask about a date for your blood drive. (It usually takes 6-8 weeks to plan a successful blood drive.)
   
   
2. Our goal was for 30 individuals to give one pint each.
   
   
3. Once your date is confirmed, start filling in the time slots that your representative will give you. We were given time slots from 9 AM until 1:15 PM. (two to three donors should be signed up every fifteen minutes)
   
   
4. I had over fifty individuals sign up. Thirty-eight of them showed up. Thirty-one of our perspective donors could actually give. It's better to overshoot your goal - in order to meet/exceed the Red Cross' expectations.
   
   
5. While you are filling in the sign-up sheet, it's time to get to work on organizing the refreshments.
   
   
6. I was able to secure five dozen fresh bagels from Brueggers, twelve dozen doughnuts and forty cups of coffee from Krispy Kreme, totally free of charge. I have request letters that I can send your way as a template if you are interested in using what I have created. Email me at chrisponjican@hotmail.com to request my community donation template letter.
   
   
7. I also received a $25 gift card from Walmart, a $20 gift card from Food Lion and a $10 gift card from Lowes Food. Again, I can send my community donation template letter your way if you want your event to cost you absolutely nothing.
   
   
8. It is important to provide plenty of sweets to help your donors recover quickly from giving a pint of their blood.
   
   
9. Remember the diabetics! Orange juice and sugar free blueberry muffins are two great choices to have on hand for those who should not eat doughnuts.
   
   
10. We had our Blood Drive on Valentine's Day - so we purchased heart helium balloons and heart stickers for the kids who came with their parents.
    
    
11. Donors appreciate it when you are accommodating to their children. While the parents gave, our volunteer team directed the children to the refreshment table, where they ate and played with balloons.
    
    
12. As individuals sign up, an email should be sent to the perspective donors confirming the time in which they have committed to donate. This email should include the location of the blood drive with the address, the organizer's cell phone number and a link to the Red Cross' Tips for Successful Giving document. It would not hurt to call your donors the night before the drive to ensure their participation. I can send to you a copy of the email I used for my blood drive that you can use as a template for your drive. Email me.
    
    
13. Once you have your donors... it's time to organize a volunteer team. We had a team of twelve individuals. Here is the breakdown:

We had a GREET Team. Two individuals were placed at the registration table to handle sign-ins, to check photo i.d., to give stickers to children, etc.

We had a FLOAT Team. These individuals were responsible for serving the donors a soda or something sweet, as they came to the end of giving blood. These volunteers also assisted the donors to the refreshment table and took additional drink orders at that time. We had all of the refreshments on the table and replaced plates, napkins, etc. as each donor was well enough to go on about their day.

We had one volunteer who assisted us from the medical field. He stood near the refreshment table at all times to check for signs of those who may be prone to faint. He also looked out for those who may still have bleeding at the needle injection site.

Finally, we had a REPLENISH Team. These individuals took their orders from the FLOAT Team. They were in the kitchen, pouring drinks and replenishing the refreshment table.

I have job descriptions for each of these teams that I can send your way if you are interested in seeing a more detailed breakdown of responsibilities for the volunteers during the Blood Drive.

Overall our event was a great success.

Happy planning!