The American Red Cross needs more blood from Richmond Hill residents.
That was the message Red Cross representative Brittany Hughes had on Tuesday during a Richmond Hill City Council meeting, when she addressed the city’s leadership about lack of participation in the community blood drive here.
“Right now we have a community blood drive at Richmond Hill United Methodist Church,” Hughes told the council. “We run that blood drive about every 56 days, which is how often you’re eligible to give … and we can’t even collect 20 pints of blood.”
That means less than 20 people are participating each time, she said, because each person donates a pint of blood.
The lack of participation has been a concern for almost two years now, Hughes told the council. She added if the blood drive doesn’t garner more participation, the Red Cross is considering shutting it down.
“If you all could help me find at least three individuals willing to come and donate … that would make a tremendous impact on this little blood drive,” she told the council. “If not, we’re looking at having to shut it down completely because 20 pints of blood is the absolute minimum that we can collect to be able to break even on running a blood drive operation.”

Read more in the March 9 edition of the News.