ROSCOE, Ill. (WTVO) — With Veterans Day coming up this weekend, the VFW Post in Roscoe held a blood drive on Wednesday to honor local veterans.
VFW Post 2955, along with the Rock River Valley Blood Center, held the third annual Honoring Our Veterans Blood Drive.
Rob Bland, the senior vice director for VFWs 6th District, says the blood drive is a great way to connect and make a difference.
“We were just looking at ways to help the community and since it’s around Veterans Day it just seemed like a natural fit,” Bland said. “The VFW is Veterans Day and the Blood Center all get-together and help the community. I just love seeing so many people coming out to support the community and support veterans.”
Donor recruiter for the Rock River Valley Blood Center, Rick Popp, said community support is huge and large participation made the event a success.
“Today, we’re looking at about 100 [donors], so that’s going to impact up to 300 lives, just on what we do today. We have 95 people that are going to give whole blood and five people that are scheduled to give double red,” he said.
Blood donor Tony Alt, “My dad was a veteran in Vietnam, so I think it’s very important to honor our veterans and do our part here as citizens of this country to donate and to help out wherever needed, wherever possible.”
For more opportunities to donate:
- VFW Post 1461, 1310 W. Lincoln Ave, Belvidere, IL: Thursday, November 9th from 1:00 to 6:00 PM
- VFW Post 998 and the Stephenson County Farm Bureau, 210 W. Spring St., Freeport, IL: Friday, November 10th from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM
- VFW Post 9739, 1310 W. Washington St., Oregon, IL: Monday, November 13th from 12:30 to 5:30 PM
