Mosquitoes aren’t the only ones wanting your blood at the moment.
The Coastal Bend Blood Center held its annual summer Rock & Roll Up Your Sleeve Blood Drive on Saturday at Cavender’s Boot City.
From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., donors were able to enter raffles to win prizes, including two Creed concert tickets, a PlayStation 5, two Parker McCollum concert tickets, a one-year Texas State Aquarium membership, a $100 Valero fuel card and more.
The blood center needs to collect more than 150 donations daily to supply the need for blood products to 22 medical facilities within the Coastal Bend, Community Outreach and Education Coordinator Ashley Ramirez said.
“We are the sole provider to 10 counties in the Coastal Bend,” Ramirez said.
Jose Casalas was one of many donors early Saturday morning. He said he donates every time he hears of a blood drive.
“It’s important to give blood to help those in need,” Casalas said. “We need more people coming out and doing the right thing.”
The center typically will have a mobile unit at various places throughout the week such as your local H-E-B, high schools and college campuses. But during holiday seasons and summer, it holds larger donation drives to draw in more people, as that’s when blood donations tend to go low.