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.
“Feeding the Carolinas is excited to partner with another non-profit whose mission aligns so well with ours,” said Mike Darrow, Executive Director of Feeding the Carolinas. “By donating blood with The Blood Connection in the month of November, you can both help ensure local hospital patients have the lifesaving blood products they need and that your neighbors have food on their tables. The funds raised will ensure our local food banks are running smoothly, reaching out in the community, and most importantly, stocked full of food.”
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. To make an appointment to donate or to find a center location, go to thebloodconnection.org/donate.