Author: Charles, Kyle

Volunteer Times

For LifeServe Blood Center Volunteers!

2019 Quarter 4

Cooling off for Fall

Ladies and gentlemen, we made it to my favorite season, FALL!
Thank you everyone for your help this summer. There were a lot of moving parts and variables that made things very interesting at several points. But thanks to all of your patience and flexibility we made it out the other end unscathed. Now as we come into these fall months our focus will return to our education blood drives and preparing for the holiday season. Thank you again for everything. With your help we are able to make our life saving mission a possibility!
- Kyle Charles

Re-Cap of Quarter 3

This summer truly flew by. We had a lot going on and it felt like we were everywhere. We began July with a fun new event at all our donor centers leading up to the 4th of July holiday having police, fire fighters and EMS departments competing against each other to see who can bring in more donations (police won). We were saw a record number of people come out (including first time donors) for that time of year, and I think we are going to try and do it again next year! We followed that up with amazing blood drives with the MercyOne Air Ambulance Team and Wings Air Rescue, Van and Bonnie radio hosts, the Sioux City Farmer’s Market, Truth Network, Iowa Cubs, Carroll Broadcasting and many, many others! It was a great year for our media drives and they did a great job of not only getting the word out of the importance of blood donation, but also LifeServe Blood Center’s mission.
We also had a great time at the Iowa State Fair! We blood typed over 1300 people this year! That’s such great visibility for us, and that’s not including the countless number of people we spoke with before and after that 4 hour blood typing window. So a huge thank you to everyone who helped out. No matter how we look at it, it turned out as a HUGE success.
Finally, the end of July/beginning of August we opened a brand new donor center in Fort Dodge. We moved up the road from our previous location to a larger area where we believe we can really grow. So if you are ever in the area be sure to stop by 118 S 25th St, Fort Dodge, IA 50501 and check it out!

LOOKING FORWARD

We are coming into the holiday season, so keep your eyes out for our various events like the Holiday Promenade, LifeServe Day hosted by our executive team, and our Holiday Potluck! I listed many of them on the other side but there will be other dates added as we approach the end of the year.
We also have another winner of the Fresnenius Kabi Donation Hall of Fame Award! Steve Pringle won this year’s award and we’ll be honoring him as well this fall. So if you see him out and about be sure to congratulate him! We will be celebrating him when he receives his award sometime end of October/beginning of November.

Mark Your

Calendars!

“What is the essence of life? To serve others and to do good”
-- Aristotle

October
25: KMEG Blood Drive (Dakota Dunes, SD)
30: LifeServe Day for Volunteers
31: Coloff Media Blood Drive (New Hampton)
Vein Drain (Donor Centers)
Carroll Dracula Drive
November
22-23: Holiday Promenade (DM)
25-30: Thanks for Giving (Donor Centers)
26: Performance Radio (Hurion, SD)
27 & 29: Blank Hospital Holiday Hero (DM)
29: Des Moines Buccaneers
29: KJJY Blood Drive (DM Donor Centers)
December
TBD: LifeServe Holiday Party
20: Life 107.1 Blood Drive (DM)
24: iHeart Christmas Eve Blood Drive (DM)
26: KGGO Blood Drive (DM and Urb Donor Centers)
27: KIX 101.1 Blood Drive (M-town)
Alpha Media Blood Drive (MC & FD)
28: KSUX Media Blood Drive (SC)
Iowa Wild Blood Drive (DM)

Welcome Aboard!
Say hello to the new faces volunteering at LifeServe

Yvette Davila, Des Moines / PR/Marketing, Call Center
Judy Hood, Des Moines / Call Center, Canteen
Paul McConeghey, Des Moines / Driver
Sameer Upadhye, Des Moines / Driver
Glen Jeffrey, Des Moines / Driver
Virginia Knudston, Des Moines / Call Center, Canteen

Do you know someone who wants to volunteer, or do you have any questions? Contact Us!

Kyle Charles
Volunteer and Special Events Coordinator
515.309.4955
Kyle.Charles@lifeservebloodcenter.org
Claire DeRoin
Community Relations Coordinator
Sioux City: 712.224.5618
Claire.Deroin@lifeservebloodcenter.org

July:
1-3: Battle of the Badges Blood Drive
13: Sioux City Farmer’s Market
19: MercyOne Des Moines Air Ambulance
20: Mercy Med Trans (North Sioux City, SD)
26: Van and Bonnie (DM)
August:
2: Blood Donor Day (SC)
Truth Network (DM)
7: Iowa Cubs
8-18: Iowa State Fair
16: Carroll Broadcasting
30: Alpha Media (MC)
30: MercyOne at Jordan Creek Mall (DM)
September:
4: KCAU Channel 9 (SC)
11: Heroes Behind the Badges
13: KXNO CyHawk Blood Drive (DM)
LifeServe’s Annual Tailgate Cookout

As I stated above, last quarter was not only the end of our school seasons, but some of our donor centers had a bit of an adjustment. After analyzing various scheduling trends and donor flows, we decided to adjust the donor center hours for our Urbandale, Sioux City and Des Moines locations. The open and close times have been strategically selected to correlate with our donation trends to allow us to be more efficient as an organization.
We also had somewhat of a resolution on the tax bill efforts. Initially, it passed through the Senate floor unanimously 47-0! The major hiccup occurred when it was introduced to the House of Representatives. The only way it was going to proceed to be voted on in the House was if it was amended to limit tax exemptions to only items used in the collection, processing, and testing of our communities’ blood supply. This was a huge step forward, but we are still one of three states who require non-profit blood centers to pay taxes on other items, like software and computer services. So next year, we’ll continue on with our discussions with our state lawmakers.
Finally, I had a blast at all of our Volunteer Appreciation events! Des Moines was a great success; we had more people attend this year than last year! So thank you everyone who was able to come out and make it the fun time it was. Also, my trips to the Mason City and Cedar Valley areas were great as well! It was nice to put faces with names, and get to know so many of you. We passed out certificates of years served, and if you were not able to pick yours up, please let me know because I have it waiting for you!