Rotary Club Aims to Collect 400 Pints of Blood for Local Hospitals

Online, September 22, 2010 (Newswire.com) - The Granada Hills Rotary Club hopes to set another record this year by collecting 400 pints of blood for local hospitals at its 2nd Annual Granada Hills Rotary Blood Drive & Health Expo on Saturday, October 2nd, from 8:00am to 4:00pm.

"Last year's drive was a huge success. We organized the event in just a few short months and were able to collect more than 165 pints of blood for local hospitals," says Jim Feffer, the Granada Hills Rotary Club's Project Chairman. "The community's outpouring of support has been absolutely phenomenal. So, we've expanded this year's event to include two blood collection sites on the same day. Our goal is to collect 400 pints of blood."

This year's event will take place at the Granada Hills Recreation Center (corner of Petit and Chatsworth) and the North Valley Youth Sports Complex (just north of Woodley and Balboa), both in Granada Hills.

All blood donors will receive a free t-shirt, a free pancake breakfast (or lunch), a free Baskin-Robbins ice-cream coupon and a free raffle ticket. Non-donors can purchase tickets for either the pancake breakfast or lunch for $6, and all proceeds will benefit the Granada Hills Rotary Club's youth service programs. Blood donors may pre-register online at www.rotarygivesblood.org to obtain a priority appointment time. On the day of the event, walk-ins will also be welcome.

In conjunction with the blood drive, the Granada Hills Rotary Club has organized a health expo at both collection sites that same day. Event attendees will be able to get free health screenings and receive information about important health topics. Vendor applications and event sponsorship information can also be found at www.rotarygivesblood.org.

This event is co-sponsored by AYSO Regions 8 & 174, the Granada Hills Recreation Center, Kaiser Permanente, Cedar's Sinai and Providence Health & Services. Community members from the entire San Fernando Valley are encouraged to attend. For more information, please contact Jim Feffer at [email protected] or 818-802-8452.

Rotary International is the world's first service club organization, with more than 1.2 million members in 33,000 clubs worldwide. Rotary club members are volunteers who work locally, regionally, and internationally to combat hunger, improve health and sanitation, provide education and job training, promote peace, and eradicate polio under the motto Service Above Self. For more information, please visit www.granadahillsrotary.org.