Last week, the San Diego Padres teamed up with San Diego Blood Bank for a three-day blood drive at Petco Park. The event went from Tuesday to Thursday and was the fourth annual summer blood drive hosted by the Padres.
“We are so grateful to the Padres and Sycuan Casino for partnering with us to make the drive happen this year,” said San Diego Blood Bank CEO David Wellis. “With many organizations not being able to host blood drives right now, this couldn’t have come at a better time. Padres Summer Blood Drive is literally a lifesaver for local hospital patients.”
𝗪𝗲 𝗵𝗶𝘁 𝗮 𝗵𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗿𝘂𝗻 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗮𝗱𝗿𝗲𝘀 𝗦𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗕𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗗𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲. San Diegans stepped to the plate over 3 days to give more than 350 pints of blood to boost our summer blood supply – impacting up to 1,050 lives. Thank you! @Padres pic.twitter.com/EQODkKPbyY
— San Diego Blood Bank (@sdbloodbank) June 19, 2020
The need for blood donations is always greater during the summer months, and this is especially the case this year with the COVID-19 pandemic significantly affecting medical resource allocation. Many people have been hesitant to donate blood in recent months, while the San Diego Blood Bank has taken every possible precaution at each of their blood drive events. The Padres Summer Blood Drive event was no exception, and marked the first time that community bloodmobiles have been in the community since the onset of COVID-19.
Despite the less than ideal circumstances, the Padres and San Diego Blood Bank were able to put on a very successful drive. In total, over 350 units of blood were donated in the three-day drive, which may save over 1,000 lives. This year has brought intense adversity for countless families, organizations, and communities. Thankfully, events like this allow us to come together and help those in need.
