Giving the Gift of Life

Pioneers in New Jersey embarked on The Gift of Life, a blood drive project to support New Jersey Blood Services. This project helped ensure the availability of a safe and reliable blood supply for patients in their community.

The Liberty Garden Pioneers have a long-standing relationship with New Jersey Blood Services, a division of the New York Blood Center, and have worked with them to host blood drives for many years. The New York Blood Center annually provides one million blood components to hospitals throughout New York City, New Jersey, Hudson Valley, Long Island, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania.

The goal of the project was to host six blood drives at their local AT&T office throughout the year and collect 720 pints of blood. Pioneers supported this project by recruiting donors, performing scheduling and administrative activities, and donating snacks for blood donors.

Hosting the blood drives in an office location makes becoming a donor very easy and convenient, and it’s a simple way for employees to make a big difference during the workday. Pioneers also designed a different theme for each blood drive, ranging from “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”, to “Jaws”, which made the event fun and appealing to potential donors.

Overall, Pioneers collected 746 pints of blood, which exceeded their goal! This small act of kindness positively impacted the lives of thousands of hospital patients in the communities where Pioneers live and work.