Hosting a Blood Drive- Drop of Good

hosting

a blood drive

Why Host A Blood Drive?

Hosting allows those to get more involved and make a larger impact.

Typical blood drives get anywhere from 20-50 donors. That means you hosting can help save way more than three lives. Hosting is beneficial in many ways more than just the altruistic joy that come with helping your community. Some blood banks even have special scholarships for those who host. Hosting also can count towards any need for community service hours.

Which Bank?

There are national and regional blood banks, ones that have local drives and other that do not. Picking which you would like to host for depends on what you hope to get out of it.

Regional blood banks like the NY Blood Bank cater to the local area and usually do not send blood to other states.

National blood banks like the Red Cross, give blood to the local area where the blood is donated but can also send them out to places in need.

Finding a Location Finding a location can seem like the hardest part, but any community space or private can be used to host a drive.

The biggest requirement is a large open room with enough space to ensure donor privacy. Other than that most spaces work.

Examples of places to host a drive: Firehouse, Places of worship, community centers, your work, and anywhere else with a large enough space.

Booking a Drive The first step to hosting a drive is to contact which blood bank you plan on hosting with to set up a meeting to get more information and book your drive. More information can be found on their websites. Once you reach out you will be able to meet with them to find out what steps you need to take as per their guidelines.

What do I need to do Once you have a date and location, the most important role as a host is to get the word out there. Make flyers, Facebook events, anything you can do to let people know.

Recruit volunteers to help during the drive, before, and after.

Come and open the space for the blood bank to set up and stay after for them to clean up.

The rest the blood bank will do!

Tips and Tricks Be friendly! Some people are scared to donate, so a friendly person can help give them confidence.

Make connections! Find a group of trusted people to help make your blood drive successful.

Advertising doesn’t have to be expensive. Grab some large poster paper from a dollar store and make your own signs. Advertising with social media is an easy way to get the word out on a budget as well!

DROP GOOD

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