'We're supposed to be helping'; Community donates to ease Red Cross blood shortage

Name: ‘We’re supposed to be helping’; Community donates to ease Red Cross blood shortage
Uploaded: 2022-02-05T17:02:15-08:00
Description: As the American Red Cross grapples with a national blood shortage deemed a crisis, people in Tacoma donated their time and their blood on Saturday hoping to make a difference.

‘We’re supposed to be helping’; Community donates to ease Red Cross blood shortage

As the American Red Cross grapples with a national blood shortage deemed a crisis, people in Tacoma donated their time and their blood on Saturday hoping to make a difference.

TACOMA, Wash. - As the American Red Cross grapples with a national blood shortage deemed a crisis, people in Tacoma donated their time and their blood on Saturday hoping to make a difference.

The pastor at Shiloh Baptist Church said when he heard there was a severe national blood shortage, he knew he wanted to help.

So did many others.

"They're at the critical stage and this is the first time in history that they've been critically low on the blood," American Red Cross Board Member, Will Willis said.

It is another shortage only made worse by COVID-19.

Willis said the situation is dire, with less than a one-day supply of critical blood types recently.

The call to action caught Pastor Gregory Christopher's attention.

He stepped right up and opened the doors to Shiloh Baptist Church in Tacoma this weekend.

"That was like a good thing to do, you know, we're a church, we're supposed to be helping the community, you know, and so I said, 'Hey, no problem,'" Christopher told FOX 13 News.

The American Red Cross said there's been a 10 percent drop in blood donations since March 2020 and a 62 percent drop in college and high school blood drives due to the pandemic.

Willis said volunteers from the "Divine Nine", Greek organizations from traditionally Black colleges, stepped up to help.

Desmond Boyd is one of those volunteers.

"Anything that we can do as a community, as a fraternity to help. Just wanted to come here and give blood on my behalf and on the fraternity's behalf as well," Boyd said.

The Red Cross, which supplies 40 percent of country's blood, said doctors are being forced to make tough calls about how blood is used and the organization has had to limit distributions to hospitals.

"What we've been doing traditionally is looking for the O-positive or the Black and Brown blood because we're using that for the folks that are having the different skill sets and the things that we need for folks who have sickle cell anemia," Willis said.

Every person at this event hopes to help ease the strain for people in Washington and across the country.

"Please give blood. It may help someone later on down the road, it may help yourself later down the road," Boyd said.

If you'd like to donate blood, the American Red Cross has a tool to help you find events near your neighborhood. You can find more information on the Red Cross website.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Red Cross faces national blood crisis, worst blood shortage in over a decade

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