Nebraska Community Blood Bank looking for new donors ahead of holiday season

LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) – Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Nebraska Community Blood Bank has issued several blood emergencies. The most recent being mid September, partly due to a decrease in younger donors.

A blood emergency is declared when when there is only a 2-3 day supply of blood on the shelves. In order for NCBB to keep up with the demand, they need about 1,000 donors weekly. However, during the pandemic school blood drives stopped and were slow to gain back traction. This is when many first time donors get the exposure to the impact they could have when rolling up their sleeve.

“A lot of times when people donated for the first time, it was at their high school blood drive,” Kari Lundeen with the Nebraska Community Blood Bank said. “The blood drives are coming which is great, but were still seeing that lack of youth donors coming for the first time. So were putting the plea out to young donors that if you’re school is having a blood drive to go and donate.”

As school blood drives make their return, the holiday season is approaching and during the busy time of year, the NCBB typically sees another drop in donors. Now, they’re working to spread the word about donations to keep more blood on the shelves.

“During the holidays we always see a drop in donations, because people are busy and there’s lots of things going on, ” Lundeen said. “We want to continue to encourage people to come out and donate because unfortunately the need for blood doesn’t take a holiday.”

Another way the NCBB is hoping to get new donors in the chair is by giving away two Husker football tickets to the Nebraska vs. Iowa game on Nov. 24 on the 50 yard line. Anyone who donates between now and Nov. 18 will be entered to win.

If you’re interested in donating blood this season or learning more about the process, visit the Nebraska Community Blood Bank website for more information.

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