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Thursday: Donate Blood, Get Free Tickets To See The Cyclones

Source: Cymbrowitz’s office

Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz is partnering with the New York Blood Center to ask residents to roll up their sleeves and give the “Gift of Life” at his Super Community Blood Drive tomorrow. In exchange for doing good, the Brooklyn Cyclones are pitching in with a pair of tickets to all presenting donors.

A New York Blood Center Bloodmobile will be stationed outside of his office, on Sheepshead Bay Road near the corner of Emmons Avenue. The donation truck will be there from noon until 6:00 p.m.

Here are some facts from the New York Blood Center’s website, which underscore how important it is to donate the gift of life:

  • 4.5 million Americans benefit from life-saving blood transfusions each year.
  • 40,000 pints are transfused each day in the United States.
  • New York Blood Center alone requires over 2,000 volunteer blood donations each day to meet the transfusion needs of patients in close to 200 New York and New Jersey hospitals.
  • 1 out of every 3 people will require a life-saving transfusion sometime during their lifetime.
  • Transfusion recipients include cancer patients, accident, burn and trauma victims, newborn babies, transplant patients, mothers delivering babies, surgery patients, chronically transfused patients suffering from sickle cell disease or thalassemia, etc.
  • Much of today’s sophisticated medical care (transplants, heart surgeries, etc.) rely on blood transfusions.
  • Car accident and trauma victims may need as many as 50 or more red cell transfusions.
  • Severe burn victims may need as many as 20 platelet transfusions.
  • Bone marrow transplants may require platelets from over 100 donors and red cells from over 20 people.
  • Blood products are perishable: Donated red cells last only 42 days; Donated platelets last only 5 days; Plasma can be frozen for a year.
  • The need for blood never takes a holiday.

Eligibility Criteria

  • ID with photo or signature
  • Minimum weight 110 lbs
  • Between 16-76 years of age
  • 16-year-olds need parental consent.
  • Persons age 76 and over must bring a doctor’s note.

For more information, contact (800) 933-2566, or to find other blood drives in the area call (800) 933-BLOOD.