Knights of Columbus give blood, volunteer time

Intermountain Catholic

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Knight of Columbus Ron White (right) and Sarah White from Saint Joseph the Worker volunteer to help with the blood drive. The Knights of Columbus put in 72 volunteer service hours.

SALT LAKE CITY — "The spirit of giving was alive and well at the Ninth Annual Fox 13 Reach Out Utah Holiday Blood Drive sponsored by the American Red Cross Blood Services Dec. 16.

"Aiming for a goal of 400 units of blood, organizers were delighted by the response from the community which resulted in the collection of 467 units," said Vickie Morgan, Volunteer Coordinator for the Red Cross.

The Utah State Council of the Knights of Columbus volunteered all day to help the Red Cross with their annual Media Blood Drive.

"The success of this drive was crucial to us," said Morgan, "because the need for blood increases each year during the holiday season."

The success of the event was aided by 72 hours of volunteer service organized by Andy Airriess and the Knights of Columbus. Airriess is a member of Saint Joseph the Worker Parish, West Jordan. Morgan said the Knights set a warm and festive atmosphere as donors entered the Murray Donor Center.

Knights of the state have volunteered for all 72 hours available.

"We were there from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.," said Airriess. "Last year’s drive resulted in a record number of pints donated.

"It is always a wonderful experience working blood drives because the donors are by nature generous people," said Airriess. "They are not giving money, or things, they are giving not only their precious time, they are actually giving a part of themselves.

"I was surprised how many first-time donors came to this drive," said Airriess. "Only five percent of eligible donors ever donate, and with all the ever-tightening restrictions placed on donors to ensure the safety of the blood supply, new donors are critical."

Airriess said organizing the volunteers for this drive was pretty easy. He said you just have to let it be known there is a need and the volunteer line starts forming. With the experience from last year, he knew that the knights would not only do a great job, but they would help the person replacing them on shift understand what needed to be done too.

"Even though we had to cover 72 hours of volunteer time, with some guys working one hour and others working four, all the shift changes were pretty well seamless," said Airriess. "Giving blood is giving life."