Sixty years ago, a doctor from Greenville, South Carolina saw a need: a need for a community blood center that supported the people who lived, worked, and sought care in the Upstate of South Carolina.  Sixty years later, his vision for that community blood center is the bedrock of The Blood Connection (TBC) – a non-profit community blood center serving hospitals across the Carolinas, Georgia, and Virginia.  While many things have changed in the past sixty years, TBC’s dedication to its hospital partners and to saving local lives has not.

 

Despite the current difficulty to collect blood and blood products, The Blood Connection remains steadfast in continuing its mission for the next sixty years to come.  Without volunteer blood donors and community blood centers like TBC, shelves will be empty when neighbors, family, or friends are in need.  Neighbors like Kristen Odom, a mother from Taylors, South Carolina, who received more than twenty units of blood after the birth of her first daughter.  It is because of community blood donors that blood products were available that day, and she has a full life with her husband and two daughters.

 

“I often think about it in the little things like we celebrate her birthday, it’s a pretty day outside, or we’re at the beach,” said Odom.  “This day I get to enjoy because somebody donated blood. I had this overwhelming sense of gratitude…it just still shocks me to this day…here we are, living a completely normal life…because blood was available and they did what they needed to do right away.”

 

It is estimated roughly 60% of the U.S. population is eligible to donate blood, but only 3% does.  While the demand for blood products is constantly increasing, unfortunately, the number of volunteer blood donors is decreasing.  As the core donor base gets older, and the younger generation is not donating blood at the same rate, TBC is noticing emptier blood mobiles, and fewer people signing up to donate blood.

 

“We all play a part in supporting the community’s blood supply,” said Delisa English, President and CEO of The Blood Connection.  “We hope people think about what their part will be, whether that is donating blood for the first time, donating blood more often, or hosting a blood drive.  We all have a responsibility to our community to ensure that blood products are available when our friends, family, and neighbors need it most.”

 

Founded in 1962, The Blood Connection spent the first 16 years of its existence under another name: The Greenville Blood Assurance program.  In 2001, the Board of Trustees adopted the name ‘The Blood Connection’ – designed to better reflect the mission of connecting healthy donors to patients in need. With just a handful of hospital partners when the organization was created in the 1960s, TBC now serves more than 100 hospitals and has expanded from the Upstate of South Carolina to three other states.

 

The world around us looks vastly different now than it did in 1962, but one thing remains the same: blood still cannot be replicated or made in a lab.  Blood must be donated and is a true gift to those who need blood products to maintain their quality of life.

 

The Blood Connection is celebrating it’s 60^th anniversary by thanking the donors who make its mission possible.  All blood donors between October 31 and November 6 will receive a commemorative ‘60^th Anniversary’ pin.  To find a center or mobile location to donate, go to thebloodconnection.org/donate.

Sixty years ago, a doctor from Greenville, South Carolina saw a need: a need for a community blood center that supported the people who lived, worked, and sought care in the Upstate of South Carolina.  Sixty years later, his vision for that community blood center is the bedrock of The Blood Connection (TBC) – a non-profit community blood center serving hospitals across the Carolinas, Georgia, and Virginia.  While many things have changed in the past sixty years, TBC’s dedication to its hospital partners and to saving local lives has not.

 

Despite the current difficulty to collect blood and blood products, The Blood Connection remains steadfast in continuing its mission for the next sixty years to come.  Without volunteer blood donors and community blood centers like TBC, shelves will be empty when neighbors, family, or friends are in need.  Neighbors like Kristen Odom, a mother from Taylors, South Carolina, who received more than twenty units of blood after the birth of her first daughter.  It is because of community blood donors that blood products were available that day, and she has a full life with her husband and two daughters.

 

“I often think about it in the little things like we celebrate her birthday, it’s a pretty day outside, or we’re at the beach,” said Odom.  “This day I get to enjoy because somebody donated blood. I had this overwhelming sense of gratitude…it just still shocks me to this day…here we are, living a completely normal life…because blood was available and they did what they needed to do right away.”

 

It is estimated roughly 60% of the U.S. population is eligible to donate blood, but only 3% does.  While the demand for blood products is constantly increasing, unfortunately, the number of volunteer blood donors is decreasing.  As the core donor base gets older, and the younger generation is not donating blood at the same rate, TBC is noticing emptier blood mobiles, and fewer people signing up to donate blood.

 

“We all play a part in supporting the community’s blood supply,” said Delisa English, President and CEO of The Blood Connection.  “We hope people think about what their part will be, whether that is donating blood for the first time, donating blood more often, or hosting a blood drive.  We all have a responsibility to our community to ensure that blood products are available when our friends, family, and neighbors need it most.”

 

Founded in 1962, The Blood Connection spent the first 16 years of its existence under another name: The Greenville Blood Assurance program.  In 2001, the Board of Trustees adopted the name ‘The Blood Connection’ – designed to better reflect the mission of connecting healthy donors to patients in need. With just a handful of hospital partners when the organization was created in the 1960s, TBC now serves more than 100 hospitals and has expanded from the Upstate of South Carolina to three other states.

 

The world around us looks vastly different now than it did in 1962, but one thing remains the same: blood still cannot be replicated or made in a lab.  Blood must be donated and is a true gift to those who need blood products to maintain their quality of life.

 

The Blood Connection is celebrating it’s 60^th anniversary by thanking the donors who make its mission possible.  All blood donors between October 31 and November 6 will receive a commemorative ‘60^th Anniversary’ pin.  To find a center or mobile location to donate, go to thebloodconnection.org/donate.

TFAC invites all artists: painters, sculptors, writers, performers & more — to a casual weekly drop-in gathering on Saturday mornings at 9 AM to share your works in progress, alert others, and chat about art and what’s happening in your community. The first weekly Coffee is Saturday, August 20 at 9 am. No RSVP needed, just drop by! Free parking available on Melrose Avenue, behind and alongside TFAC.

One in five people in the Carolinas don’t have enough food to eat.  As we enter the holiday season, November is historically one of the hardest months for food banks across the country.  Many North and South Carolinians are either looking for ways to help those in need or looking for help themselves. The Blood Connection (TBC), the non-profit community blood center serving these two states, is dedicating the month of November to addressing the issue of food insecurity in the region by offering blood donors a way to help those in need.

In the month of November, TBC will partner with Feeding the Carolinas – a network of food banks across North and South Carolina that works to provide a healthy, adequate, and consistent food supply – to promote blood donation and food donation.  Each year, Feeding the Carolinas estimates they supply food to more than 2.3 million Carolinians facing hunger.  Feeding the Carolinas also supports the Augusta, Georgia region, which TBC has recently begun operations in.

TBC needs around 1,000 blood donations per day to supply blood to more than 100 hospitals across the Carolinas, and TBC must ensure the shelves are stocked with life-saving blood products when hospital partners call. TBC has set a goal of raising $5,000 for food banks in November, with the hopes of helping neighboring non-profits stock their shelves, as well. Like the need for blood, the need for charitable food does not go away: people in this community will always need food – especially now with inflation at never-before-seen levels.  With one blood donation, a donor can save three lives and help a family in their own community have enough food on the table for Thanksgiving.

Throughout the month of November, blood donors will have the option to donate their TBC reward points in
the TBC Store to Feeding the Carolinas. At TBC centers, food collection boxes will also be placed out for
donors to give non-perishable food items. TBC is also looking for organizations to host blood drives
benefiting Feeding the Carolinas. Blood drive hosts have the option to donate $10 or $20 per blood donor to
Feeding the Carolinas. For more information about hosting a blood drive in November, go to
thebloodconnection.org/host.

Sixty years ago, a doctor from Greenville, South Carolina saw a need: a need for a community blood center that supported the people who lived, worked, and sought care in the Upstate of South Carolina.  Sixty years later, his vision for that community blood center is the bedrock of The Blood Connection (TBC) – a non-profit community blood center serving hospitals across the Carolinas, Georgia, and Virginia.  While many things have changed in the past sixty years, TBC’s dedication to its hospital partners and to saving local lives has not.

 

Despite the current difficulty to collect blood and blood products, The Blood Connection remains steadfast in continuing its mission for the next sixty years to come.  Without volunteer blood donors and community blood centers like TBC, shelves will be empty when neighbors, family, or friends are in need.  Neighbors like Kristen Odom, a mother from Taylors, South Carolina, who received more than twenty units of blood after the birth of her first daughter.  It is because of community blood donors that blood products were available that day, and she has a full life with her husband and two daughters.

 

“I often think about it in the little things like we celebrate her birthday, it’s a pretty day outside, or we’re at the beach,” said Odom.  “This day I get to enjoy because somebody donated blood. I had this overwhelming sense of gratitude…it just still shocks me to this day…here we are, living a completely normal life…because blood was available and they did what they needed to do right away.”

 

It is estimated roughly 60% of the U.S. population is eligible to donate blood, but only 3% does.  While the demand for blood products is constantly increasing, unfortunately, the number of volunteer blood donors is decreasing.  As the core donor base gets older, and the younger generation is not donating blood at the same rate, TBC is noticing emptier blood mobiles, and fewer people signing up to donate blood.

 

“We all play a part in supporting the community’s blood supply,” said Delisa English, President and CEO of The Blood Connection.  “We hope people think about what their part will be, whether that is donating blood for the first time, donating blood more often, or hosting a blood drive.  We all have a responsibility to our community to ensure that blood products are available when our friends, family, and neighbors need it most.”

 

Founded in 1962, The Blood Connection spent the first 16 years of its existence under another name: The Greenville Blood Assurance program.  In 2001, the Board of Trustees adopted the name ‘The Blood Connection’ – designed to better reflect the mission of connecting healthy donors to patients in need. With just a handful of hospital partners when the organization was created in the 1960s, TBC now serves more than 100 hospitals and has expanded from the Upstate of South Carolina to three other states.

 

The world around us looks vastly different now than it did in 1962, but one thing remains the same: blood still cannot be replicated or made in a lab.  Blood must be donated and is a true gift to those who need blood products to maintain their quality of life.

 

The Blood Connection is celebrating it’s 60^th anniversary by thanking the donors who make its mission possible.  All blood donors between October 31 and November 6 will receive a commemorative ‘60^th Anniversary’ pin.  To find a center or mobile location to donate, go to thebloodconnection.org/donate.

Interactive workshop for adult beginners wishing for a stage to shine on (or behind), with a scriptwriting lesson and mock auditions using scenes from the feature script ‘BILLIE’S SONG, AN URBAN FAIRY TALE’.

This fun lesson and opportunity to get up perform is an introduction to the ‘BILLIE’S SONG’ Theatrical Readings Project being planned for Spring 2023. The script has half Black characters and half White (with a few roles that can be other). For the theatrical readings we will be recruiting community members from diverse neighborhoods to be both cast and creative team, with wardrobe, props, and set pieces all obtained in a community scavenger hunt or created by community members. The goal will be to rotate performance locations, from an art gallery to a church to a public housing community center to a storefront business, to draw-in people who wouldn’t normally turn out together.

Script Synopsis: Billie, a struggling working-class Black actress estranged from her family, becomes involved with Benjamin, an emotionally conflicted wealthy white man angling to secure a leadership position he has on a probationary basis. Initially, Billie and Ben amuse, then need and support each other. But the differences in their communities—and the personal demons they don’t reveal to each other—eventually put them up against each other in a potentially violent fight for survival (for Billie physical survival, for Ben spiritual vs face-saving survival).

“I think the script is wonderfully written, well-paced, fun, and serious without taking itself seriously. I especially love the ending!” – Erin Clare, Story Parlor founder, formerly Creative Director of the Austin Film Festival and its Writer Conference

Led by Trayce Gardner (Writer/Teacher/Guerilla Filmmaker/Community Organizer) and recent refugee from Brooklyn, NY, where she taught beginning scriptwriting and short filmmaking classes for seven years at New York City College of Technology’s Continuing Ed.

One in five people in the Carolinas don’t have enough food to eat.  As we enter the holiday season, November is historically one of the hardest months for food banks across the country.  Many North and South Carolinians are either looking for ways to help those in need or looking for help themselves. The Blood Connection (TBC), the non-profit community blood center serving these two states, is dedicating the month of November to addressing the issue of food insecurity in the region by offering blood donors a way to help those in need.

In the month of November, TBC will partner with Feeding the Carolinas – a network of food banks across North and South Carolina that works to provide a healthy, adequate, and consistent food supply – to promote blood donation and food donation.  Each year, Feeding the Carolinas estimates they supply food to more than 2.3 million Carolinians facing hunger.  Feeding the Carolinas also supports the Augusta, Georgia region, which TBC has recently begun operations in.

TBC needs around 1,000 blood donations per day to supply blood to more than 100 hospitals across the Carolinas, and TBC must ensure the shelves are stocked with life-saving blood products when hospital partners call. TBC has set a goal of raising $5,000 for food banks in November, with the hopes of helping neighboring non-profits stock their shelves, as well. Like the need for blood, the need for charitable food does not go away: people in this community will always need food – especially now with inflation at never-before-seen levels.  With one blood donation, a donor can save three lives and help a family in their own community have enough food on the table for Thanksgiving.

Throughout the month of November, blood donors will have the option to donate their TBC reward points in
the TBC Store to Feeding the Carolinas. At TBC centers, food collection boxes will also be placed out for
donors to give non-perishable food items. TBC is also looking for organizations to host blood drives
benefiting Feeding the Carolinas. Blood drive hosts have the option to donate $10 or $20 per blood donor to
Feeding the Carolinas. For more information about hosting a blood drive in November, go to
thebloodconnection.org/host.

Sixty years ago, a doctor from Greenville, South Carolina saw a need: a need for a community blood center that supported the people who lived, worked, and sought care in the Upstate of South Carolina.  Sixty years later, his vision for that community blood center is the bedrock of The Blood Connection (TBC) – a non-profit community blood center serving hospitals across the Carolinas, Georgia, and Virginia.  While many things have changed in the past sixty years, TBC’s dedication to its hospital partners and to saving local lives has not.

 

Despite the current difficulty to collect blood and blood products, The Blood Connection remains steadfast in continuing its mission for the next sixty years to come.  Without volunteer blood donors and community blood centers like TBC, shelves will be empty when neighbors, family, or friends are in need.  Neighbors like Kristen Odom, a mother from Taylors, South Carolina, who received more than twenty units of blood after the birth of her first daughter.  It is because of community blood donors that blood products were available that day, and she has a full life with her husband and two daughters.

 

“I often think about it in the little things like we celebrate her birthday, it’s a pretty day outside, or we’re at the beach,” said Odom.  “This day I get to enjoy because somebody donated blood. I had this overwhelming sense of gratitude…it just still shocks me to this day…here we are, living a completely normal life…because blood was available and they did what they needed to do right away.”

 

It is estimated roughly 60% of the U.S. population is eligible to donate blood, but only 3% does.  While the demand for blood products is constantly increasing, unfortunately, the number of volunteer blood donors is decreasing.  As the core donor base gets older, and the younger generation is not donating blood at the same rate, TBC is noticing emptier blood mobiles, and fewer people signing up to donate blood.

 

“We all play a part in supporting the community’s blood supply,” said Delisa English, President and CEO of The Blood Connection.  “We hope people think about what their part will be, whether that is donating blood for the first time, donating blood more often, or hosting a blood drive.  We all have a responsibility to our community to ensure that blood products are available when our friends, family, and neighbors need it most.”

 

Founded in 1962, The Blood Connection spent the first 16 years of its existence under another name: The Greenville Blood Assurance program.  In 2001, the Board of Trustees adopted the name ‘The Blood Connection’ – designed to better reflect the mission of connecting healthy donors to patients in need. With just a handful of hospital partners when the organization was created in the 1960s, TBC now serves more than 100 hospitals and has expanded from the Upstate of South Carolina to three other states.

 

The world around us looks vastly different now than it did in 1962, but one thing remains the same: blood still cannot be replicated or made in a lab.  Blood must be donated and is a true gift to those who need blood products to maintain their quality of life.

 

The Blood Connection is celebrating it’s 60^th anniversary by thanking the donors who make its mission possible.  All blood donors between October 31 and November 6 will receive a commemorative ‘60^th Anniversary’ pin.  To find a center or mobile location to donate, go to thebloodconnection.org/donate.

One in five people in the Carolinas don’t have enough food to eat.  As we enter the holiday season, November is historically one of the hardest months for food banks across the country.  Many North and South Carolinians are either looking for ways to help those in need or looking for help themselves. The Blood Connection (TBC), the non-profit community blood center serving these two states, is dedicating the month of November to addressing the issue of food insecurity in the region by offering blood donors a way to help those in need.

In the month of November, TBC will partner with Feeding the Carolinas – a network of food banks across North and South Carolina that works to provide a healthy, adequate, and consistent food supply – to promote blood donation and food donation.  Each year, Feeding the Carolinas estimates they supply food to more than 2.3 million Carolinians facing hunger.  Feeding the Carolinas also supports the Augusta, Georgia region, which TBC has recently begun operations in.

TBC needs around 1,000 blood donations per day to supply blood to more than 100 hospitals across the Carolinas, and TBC must ensure the shelves are stocked with life-saving blood products when hospital partners call. TBC has set a goal of raising $5,000 for food banks in November, with the hopes of helping neighboring non-profits stock their shelves, as well. Like the need for blood, the need for charitable food does not go away: people in this community will always need food – especially now with inflation at never-before-seen levels.  With one blood donation, a donor can save three lives and help a family in their own community have enough food on the table for Thanksgiving.

Throughout the month of November, blood donors will have the option to donate their TBC reward points in
the TBC Store to Feeding the Carolinas. At TBC centers, food collection boxes will also be placed out for
donors to give non-perishable food items. TBC is also looking for organizations to host blood drives
benefiting Feeding the Carolinas. Blood drive hosts have the option to donate $10 or $20 per blood donor to
Feeding the Carolinas. For more information about hosting a blood drive in November, go to
thebloodconnection.org/host.

Sixty years ago, a doctor from Greenville, South Carolina saw a need: a need for a community blood center that supported the people who lived, worked, and sought care in the Upstate of South Carolina.  Sixty years later, his vision for that community blood center is the bedrock of The Blood Connection (TBC) – a non-profit community blood center serving hospitals across the Carolinas, Georgia, and Virginia.  While many things have changed in the past sixty years, TBC’s dedication to its hospital partners and to saving local lives has not.

 

Despite the current difficulty to collect blood and blood products, The Blood Connection remains steadfast in continuing its mission for the next sixty years to come.  Without volunteer blood donors and community blood centers like TBC, shelves will be empty when neighbors, family, or friends are in need.  Neighbors like Kristen Odom, a mother from Taylors, South Carolina, who received more than twenty units of blood after the birth of her first daughter.  It is because of community blood donors that blood products were available that day, and she has a full life with her husband and two daughters.

 

“I often think about it in the little things like we celebrate her birthday, it’s a pretty day outside, or we’re at the beach,” said Odom.  “This day I get to enjoy because somebody donated blood. I had this overwhelming sense of gratitude…it just still shocks me to this day…here we are, living a completely normal life…because blood was available and they did what they needed to do right away.”

 

It is estimated roughly 60% of the U.S. population is eligible to donate blood, but only 3% does.  While the demand for blood products is constantly increasing, unfortunately, the number of volunteer blood donors is decreasing.  As the core donor base gets older, and the younger generation is not donating blood at the same rate, TBC is noticing emptier blood mobiles, and fewer people signing up to donate blood.

 

“We all play a part in supporting the community’s blood supply,” said Delisa English, President and CEO of The Blood Connection.  “We hope people think about what their part will be, whether that is donating blood for the first time, donating blood more often, or hosting a blood drive.  We all have a responsibility to our community to ensure that blood products are available when our friends, family, and neighbors need it most.”

 

Founded in 1962, The Blood Connection spent the first 16 years of its existence under another name: The Greenville Blood Assurance program.  In 2001, the Board of Trustees adopted the name ‘The Blood Connection’ – designed to better reflect the mission of connecting healthy donors to patients in need. With just a handful of hospital partners when the organization was created in the 1960s, TBC now serves more than 100 hospitals and has expanded from the Upstate of South Carolina to three other states.

 

The world around us looks vastly different now than it did in 1962, but one thing remains the same: blood still cannot be replicated or made in a lab.  Blood must be donated and is a true gift to those who need blood products to maintain their quality of life.

 

The Blood Connection is celebrating it’s 60^th anniversary by thanking the donors who make its mission possible.  All blood donors between October 31 and November 6 will receive a commemorative ‘60^th Anniversary’ pin.  To find a center or mobile location to donate, go to thebloodconnection.org/donate.

One in five people in the Carolinas don’t have enough food to eat.  As we enter the holiday season, November is historically one of the hardest months for food banks across the country.  Many North and South Carolinians are either looking for ways to help those in need or looking for help themselves. The Blood Connection (TBC), the non-profit community blood center serving these two states, is dedicating the month of November to addressing the issue of food insecurity in the region by offering blood donors a way to help those in need.

In the month of November, TBC will partner with Feeding the Carolinas – a network of food banks across North and South Carolina that works to provide a healthy, adequate, and consistent food supply – to promote blood donation and food donation.  Each year, Feeding the Carolinas estimates they supply food to more than 2.3 million Carolinians facing hunger.  Feeding the Carolinas also supports the Augusta, Georgia region, which TBC has recently begun operations in.

TBC needs around 1,000 blood donations per day to supply blood to more than 100 hospitals across the Carolinas, and TBC must ensure the shelves are stocked with life-saving blood products when hospital partners call. TBC has set a goal of raising $5,000 for food banks in November, with the hopes of helping neighboring non-profits stock their shelves, as well. Like the need for blood, the need for charitable food does not go away: people in this community will always need food – especially now with inflation at never-before-seen levels.  With one blood donation, a donor can save three lives and help a family in their own community have enough food on the table for Thanksgiving.

Throughout the month of November, blood donors will have the option to donate their TBC reward points in
the TBC Store to Feeding the Carolinas. At TBC centers, food collection boxes will also be placed out for
donors to give non-perishable food items. TBC is also looking for organizations to host blood drives
benefiting Feeding the Carolinas. Blood drive hosts have the option to donate $10 or $20 per blood donor to
Feeding the Carolinas. For more information about hosting a blood drive in November, go to
thebloodconnection.org/host.

Sixty years ago, a doctor from Greenville, South Carolina saw a need: a need for a community blood center that supported the people who lived, worked, and sought care in the Upstate of South Carolina.  Sixty years later, his vision for that community blood center is the bedrock of The Blood Connection (TBC) – a non-profit community blood center serving hospitals across the Carolinas, Georgia, and Virginia.  While many things have changed in the past sixty years, TBC’s dedication to its hospital partners and to saving local lives has not.

 

Despite the current difficulty to collect blood and blood products, The Blood Connection remains steadfast in continuing its mission for the next sixty years to come.  Without volunteer blood donors and community blood centers like TBC, shelves will be empty when neighbors, family, or friends are in need.  Neighbors like Kristen Odom, a mother from Taylors, South Carolina, who received more than twenty units of blood after the birth of her first daughter.  It is because of community blood donors that blood products were available that day, and she has a full life with her husband and two daughters.

 

“I often think about it in the little things like we celebrate her birthday, it’s a pretty day outside, or we’re at the beach,” said Odom.  “This day I get to enjoy because somebody donated blood. I had this overwhelming sense of gratitude…it just still shocks me to this day…here we are, living a completely normal life…because blood was available and they did what they needed to do right away.”

 

It is estimated roughly 60% of the U.S. population is eligible to donate blood, but only 3% does.  While the demand for blood products is constantly increasing, unfortunately, the number of volunteer blood donors is decreasing.  As the core donor base gets older, and the younger generation is not donating blood at the same rate, TBC is noticing emptier blood mobiles, and fewer people signing up to donate blood.

 

“We all play a part in supporting the community’s blood supply,” said Delisa English, President and CEO of The Blood Connection.  “We hope people think about what their part will be, whether that is donating blood for the first time, donating blood more often, or hosting a blood drive.  We all have a responsibility to our community to ensure that blood products are available when our friends, family, and neighbors need it most.”

 

Founded in 1962, The Blood Connection spent the first 16 years of its existence under another name: The Greenville Blood Assurance program.  In 2001, the Board of Trustees adopted the name ‘The Blood Connection’ – designed to better reflect the mission of connecting healthy donors to patients in need. With just a handful of hospital partners when the organization was created in the 1960s, TBC now serves more than 100 hospitals and has expanded from the Upstate of South Carolina to three other states.

 

The world around us looks vastly different now than it did in 1962, but one thing remains the same: blood still cannot be replicated or made in a lab.  Blood must be donated and is a true gift to those who need blood products to maintain their quality of life.

 

The Blood Connection is celebrating it’s 60^th anniversary by thanking the donors who make its mission possible.  All blood donors between October 31 and November 6 will receive a commemorative ‘60^th Anniversary’ pin.  To find a center or mobile location to donate, go to thebloodconnection.org/donate.

One in five people in the Carolinas don’t have enough food to eat.  As we enter the holiday season, November is historically one of the hardest months for food banks across the country.  Many North and South Carolinians are either looking for ways to help those in need or looking for help themselves. The Blood Connection (TBC), the non-profit community blood center serving these two states, is dedicating the month of November to addressing the issue of food insecurity in the region by offering blood donors a way to help those in need.

In the month of November, TBC will partner with Feeding the Carolinas – a network of food banks across North and South Carolina that works to provide a healthy, adequate, and consistent food supply – to promote blood donation and food donation.  Each year, Feeding the Carolinas estimates they supply food to more than 2.3 million Carolinians facing hunger.  Feeding the Carolinas also supports the Augusta, Georgia region, which TBC has recently begun operations in.

TBC needs around 1,000 blood donations per day to supply blood to more than 100 hospitals across the Carolinas, and TBC must ensure the shelves are stocked with life-saving blood products when hospital partners call. TBC has set a goal of raising $5,000 for food banks in November, with the hopes of helping neighboring non-profits stock their shelves, as well. Like the need for blood, the need for charitable food does not go away: people in this community will always need food – especially now with inflation at never-before-seen levels.  With one blood donation, a donor can save three lives and help a family in their own community have enough food on the table for Thanksgiving.

Throughout the month of November, blood donors will have the option to donate their TBC reward points in
the TBC Store to Feeding the Carolinas. At TBC centers, food collection boxes will also be placed out for
donors to give non-perishable food items. TBC is also looking for organizations to host blood drives
benefiting Feeding the Carolinas. Blood drive hosts have the option to donate $10 or $20 per blood donor to
Feeding the Carolinas. For more information about hosting a blood drive in November, go to
thebloodconnection.org/host.