EMPORIUM — Olkosky-Jessop American Legion Post 194 in Emporium hosted an American Red Cross Blood Mobile on Thursday at the Vets Club.
The event garnered 54 pints, and donors got a free T-shirt.
Several donors reached their one-gallon (or 8 pints) milestone: Nicole Huggler, Craig Hudson, Jim Rusnak, Sheri Foltz and Mark Clark.
The big milestone for the day was Marsha Patros reaching her 22-gallon (or 176 pints) pin. To achieve this, Patros has been dedicated to donating blood for over 30 years.
The group had more double-donors than ever before on one day. The machines were constantly in use with nine plasma donations all together. Helping in efforts to reach that amount were Patrick Emerick, Don Bowser, Debra Swank, Willie Van Zanten, Brock Belkowski, Teresa Genaux and Marsha Patros.
Mike Travis and Mary Dixon were first-time donors, and Willie Van Zanten and Tyler Bidwell returned after not donating for some time. Bill Newara from Kersey saw the blood drive signs and decided to stop and donate.
Team members from Buffalo, N.Y., were Glenn Kraebel, Daryl Sadkowski, Sean Lanighan and new team member Lainey Licht. Local volunteers were Paul Richards, Barry Sarick, Mick Fapore and Mary Greif.
The next Emporium Blood Drive will be Aug. 12 from 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. To make an appointment call 1-800-RED-CROSS or visit redcrossblood.org. The timeframe that is best for walk-ins is between 2 and 3:30 p.m., which is the slowest period. Call 486-3078 on the day of the blood drive to see what is available.
