Blood Drive

In the past six years, CCACC has held semi-annual blood drives to reflect the spirit of giving back to the community. In November 2018, we were able to work with the Red Cross to hold a blood drive in CCACC’s Art Gallery. On that day, 26 people came and 20 qualified to donate blood. Their generous donations can help save 63 lives.

 

There were young and old donors, and some were even long-time, regular donors. Among them was a donor named Michael. He was over 70 and had been donating blood since the 1980s, having donated 119 times, the most of anyone at the event. There were also a lot of young donors who recently reached 16 years of age and came with their parents. For them, this was their first time experiencing what it was like to give back to the community. One of them was a 17 year old girl, Mia, who came with her mother. She was worried at first, stating that she was afraid of pain. To help relieve her of her worries, some of the volunteers helped explain the process to her; and she made up her mind to give it a try. After the experience she claimed that it was not as painful as getting a flu shot and that she will come again.

 

CCACC has partnered with Red Cross to hold two blood drives a year, hoping to encourage more people from the Asian community to contribute to this cause. At this event, we were able to see a lot of Asians showing their support. Mr. Lee, a chef, was typically too busy and because of his limited ability to speak English, he didn’t feel comfortable donating blood. However, he said that CCACC was able to remove that language barrier and gave him an opportunity to donate. Mrs. Zhou also shared her story with us. She told us that 20 years ago, while she was giving birth to her daughter she lost a lot of blood, and it was because of the people who had donated blood that she was able to receive a blood transfusion that saved both her and her daughter. As a result, she wants to give back and return that love back to the community. 

 

Because the blood drive was just before Thanksgiving, many people brought their children and said that giving back to the community and showing love is one of the best ways to celebrate the holiday.

The success of this event is thanks to local Chinese alumni associations as well as staff and volunteers from CCACC. Together, we were able to make this event a success. For more information about the event or our next blood drive, please check out CCACC’s website or our website.