Rotary schedules next quarterly blood drive for Oct. 11
Local Rotarians have scheduled another Kilgore Community Blood Drive next month.
Rotarian and Pilgrim Lutheran Church Rev. Jayson Galler (see below) organizes the regular campaigns for the club, orchestrated by Carter BloodCare – the next is set for 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 11, in the Lutheran church’s Parish hall at 713 Florey Street.
Drives are essential during summertime, Galler noted, when demand is traditionally higher is higher and supply is typically lower.
This month’s initiative is the Kilgore Rotary Club’s fourth blood program – donors must provide a form of identification and are encouraged to eat before making their contribution to the local blood stock. More information about the blood donation process is available at CarterBloodCare.org along with an advance sign-up, though no appointment is necessary.
For more details, contact Galler at 903-984-4333.
Reprinted from the Kilgore News Herald, July 12, 2014
Blood is always a valuable gift
DR. JAYSON GALLER
The supply of blood is often lower in the summer, because, for example, even regular donors are away on vacation, not to mention potential donors’ decreased likelihood of donating and there being fewer blood drives. At the same time, the need for blood in the summer often goes up, because, for example, more people are injured travelling and in various recreational activities.
The blood supply in our communities depends on people voluntarily donating their blood or blood products, their essentially giving about an hour of their time in order to save potentially three different lives. Generally donors get no monetary compensation, and generally agencies that collect the blood are not for profit, although the agencies do usually charge the recipients of the blood more than may be realized in order to cover the agencies’ considerable operational expenses.
As valuable as ordinary human blood so is, the value of the extraordinary human blood of the God-man Jesus Christ is far greater, really, invaluable. For, not with perishable silver or gold but by Jesus’s precious blood, like the blood of a lamb without blemish or spot, believers are ransomed from the futile ways we inherited from our forefathers. And, our being so redeemed from our debt of sin impacts the way we live our lives. (See 1 Peter 1:17-19.) Regularly receiving, through the Lord’s Supper, the real, physical blood of Jesus (and so also receiving its benefits, which we constantly need), we may be moved to help others by giving them the gift of our blood.
Pilgrim Lutheran Church and the Kilgore Rotary Club are again partnering for what is our Fourth Kilgore Community Blood Drive, conducted by Carter BloodCare on Saturday, July 26, from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. inside Pilgrim’s Parish Hall at 713 Florey Street in Kilgore. To schedule an appointment or for more information, visit www.pilgrimlc.org/blooddrive or call the church office at 903-984-4333. If you are unable or ineligible to donate July 26, please mark your calendar for the next drive, October 11. And, everyone can recruit other people to donate on both July 26 and October 11.
The Rev. Dr. Jayson S. Galler is Pastor of Pilgrim Lutheran Church in Kilgore. You can reach him through the congregation’s website: www.pilgrimlc.org.