One pint of donated blood can save up to three lives. Every day, blood donors help patients of all ages with all kinds of health needs. In fact, every two seconds, someone in the U.S. needs blood.
This year, our 12th Annual Interfaith Blood Drive will be held in the Netivot Social Hall on Tuesday July 28th, from 12pm – 5 pm. To sign up for an appointment, click here and enter Sponsor Code CNS.
Our Annual Interfaith Blood Drive was conceived in 2014, when Jerry Garfield reached out from the Red Cross about their new program for Interfaith Blood Drives. Carole Baden (“Board Rosh, Chesed v’Tzedek” at the time) recruited Hilla Abel to lead the new project. Our first interfaith blood drive was held on July 16, 2015, with Hilla and Lorraine Rosenblatt on our first team. (Jerry was one of our volunteers that year and has continued to volunteer with us every year since.)
Yesterday . . .
In 2017, Hilla turned the oversight of the project over to the new Rosh, Vicki Sommer. We have had an in-person blood drive every year since, except for 2020, when we hosted a “virtual blood drive,” encouraging donors to sign up online for other blood drives.
. . . and Today
Our current Netivot Blood Drive Team consists of Mary Breiner, Barbara Wezelman, Vicki Sommer, and Carole Baden. Mary recruits and coordinates our volunteers, Vicki coordinates our community co-sponsors, Barbara lends her organizing and analytical skills, and Carole jumps in as tech maven and PR support.
We promote the blood drive tirelessly, and we pitch in on the day-of to keep things moving smoothly. We offer the best (and most kosher!) blood donation refreshments in town, supplementing snacks from the Red Cross with hechshered gluten-free snacks and fresh fruit.
Additionally, every member of our amazing Netivot leadership and staff contributes to our success by supporting and promoting our drive, and providing crucial logistical support.
We have connected to Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, and Hindu faith communities in the area. For many years we have co-partnered with Pacifica Institute, The Way Christian Center, Berkeley Buddhist Monastery, and the Vedanta Society. Each of our community sponsors provides volunteers and recruits blood donors, and The Way generously arranges for us to use their parking lot for the Red Cross and our volunteers.
The Red Cross provides all the equipment to transform our Social Hall into a blood donation center, and trained staff who specialize in the collection and processing of donations.
We are fortunate to have a core group of volunteers from Netivot Shalom every year. They ensure that blood donors have a comfortable, safe (and even fun!) experience. And we are tremendously grateful for the blood donors who sign up for our drive year after year.
Because of our strong community support, we are consistently one of the most successful blood donation events in the East Bay. Year 12, here we come!
Sign up now!
There is no maximum age limit for donating blood and the minimum age to donate blood is 16 (with parental consent), and 17 (without parental consent). To confirm that you can donate, check the Red Cross website, https://www.redcrossblood.org/donate-blood/how-to-donate/eligibility-requirements.html.
We also love to welcome new volunteers.
As Rabbi Chai has written, “Jewish law teaches us ‘Pikuach Nefesh Doche et Hakol – Saving a life is the most important thing.’ Donating blood is an easy and meaningful way that you can contribute to pikuach nefesh and help save a life. Please take part in this meaningful interfaith effort. It’s simple to do and makes a big difference in saving lives.”