2nd Annual “Sonny” Rush Blood Drive

MERIDIAN, Miss. (WTOK) – Starting early today right outside The MAX, the second ever “Sonny” Rush Blood Drive was held.

With help from the people at Vitalant, the annual blood drive was done in honor of the late Dr. Gus A. “Sonny” Rush and, from 12 noon to 7pm, The Vitalant bus was open to anyone ready to donate blood.

All blood types as well as platelets were accepted.

Callie Waite, Dr. Rush’s daughter, spoke about what it meant for her to be able to honor her father through this blood drive.

Waite said, “We’re out here for the second annual Sunny Rush Blood Drive and I wanted to give back in honor of my dad. He gave back to this community in so many different ways. He started rush sports medicine here. He worked for over 25 years and did over 20,000 surgeries for this. Community and the extended greater community of Meridian. And so he was such a wonderful asset to our community and gave back. And so this is just my way to give back. In his honor. So my dad had AML acute myeloid leukemia and you just never know when you or your family are gonna need a blood transfusion and to get blood. And so it’s just really important to give back to those who really need it. And you never know, it could be yourself or it could be your loved one. And just so many people out there that really need it.”

Today’s blood drive accepts walk-ins. After donating, donors also received a nice t shirt to go.

Their goal for the day was to collect 40 units of blood or greater and they hope to increase their goal each year.

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