Every year, the bar gets raised in District 5790

A goal of 7000 units of blood has been set for 2008-09 by District Governor Jerry Parr , and "we are on target for accomplishing that goal", Geoff Graham, the District Blood Drive Chair, stated in a report to www.ourblooddrive.org. By the end of August, blood drives among participating clubs had already brought in 2542 units, taking the total to a remarkable 55,461 units of blood since 1996. 

Only 81 units of blood  separate the governor's goal of 7000 units of blood from the magic figure of 60,000 units of blood. In 2007-08, clubs in the district brought in 6803 units of blood, the highest figure hitherto. In 2006-07, the figure was 6168.

"Every year this District goes above and beyond to see that the bar gets raised a little higher and this year is no exception," Geoff Graham said. "I think there is a tremendous amount of effort and passion that has come from Rotary and its members' support of local blood centers and I know it will only grow in the future." The Governor's Challenge program runs from April 1 through March 31.

District 5790 has 64 clubs with about 3325 members. For this Rotary year, all the clubs have indicated that they will participate in organizing blood drives, according to Geoff Graham. 

Measured in blood units, Weatherford Rotary Club closed the best of all for 2007-08, statistics show.  With 114 members, the club brought in 1734 units of blood. Weatherford RC, the fourth largest club in the district, also won the 2006-07 blood challenge. The August 2008 tally showed Weatherford RC in the lead with 905 units of blood so far for the new Rotary year. In addition, the club also came in as number one when measured in terms of ratio. (The ratio is the number of units of blood divided by the number of club members). Weatherford RC achieved a ratio of 794 per cent.

Counted in blood units, Burleson Rotary Club with 61 members and 342 units of blood came in second, whereas the much smaller Colleyville Rotary Club ranked number two on the ratio list, with 600 per cent, based upon 22 members and 132 collected blood units.

The Governor's Challenge Blood Drive began in 1996 as a challenge among Rotary Clubs in the Fort Worth area of District 5790 with the intention of "helping to build momentum for supporting local community blood supplies."

According to PDG Chuck Kurtzman, founder of the Governors' Challenge Blood Drive, the tally at the opening year showed 440 units of collected blood. Three years later, the challenge program brought in 1640 units of blood with.

The Governor's Challenge Blood Drive has become a prototype for Rotary Districts across the US and internationally. In addition, the vision of the blood drive challenge among clubs and districts was a corner stone in the founding in 2006-07 of the Global Network for Blood Donation, A Rotarian Action Group.

Within District 5790, the Governor's Challenge Blood Drive helps six local blood centers to save lives: Carter BloodCare , Meek Blood Center , Oklahoma Blood Institute ,  Red Cross ,   United Blood Services and Texoma Regional Blood Center .

Nominated by Carter BloodCare, the largest blood center in Texas, Rotary International won the AABB   2006 Outstanding Achievement Award   (in the category of Organization) - "For embracing the mission of blood donation and for the organization's instrumental role in helping to provide safe blood in communities around the world."

In its motivation for the prize, the professional society for transfusion and cellular medicine, AABB, (formerly known as the American Association of Blood Banks), pointed to an international survey, revealing that Rotary clubs in 60 percent of respondent Districts around the world actively supported blood drives in some ways. The survey was sponsored by District 5790 and conducted by students at the Schieffer School of Journalism , part of the highly regarded Texas Christian University TCU , by means of questionnaires sent to Rotary District Governors in many countries.

The survey estimated at the time, that Rotary International's blood donation projects in various countries brought in some 817,000 units of blood annually. Though constituting only about one per cent of the world's blood supplies, the blood contribution from Rotary Clubs and Districts would be enough, statistically, to save or improve the lives of more than two million human beings every year. (In comparison, the World Health Organization, WHO quoting national statistics, has estimated, that some 4,5 million human lives in the US  would be lost every year without access to blood transfusion. The total US population is now 304,000,000). 

Applauding the District's accomplishment of having collected 50,000 units of blood, the founder of the Governors' Challenge Blood Drive, PDG Charles Kurtzman, member of Rotary Club of Fort Worth South , wrote in a press release: "We thank all Rotarians, their families, friends, employees and all other volunteers and donors who work with us to help our local community blood centers save lives.  While not all can give blood, all can help as we build ongoing relationships to help assure that blood is always available when needed, where needed."

Contact person: Geoff Graham, District Blood Drive Chair, ggraham@carterbloodcare.org  

Footnote: See article in the Rotarian about the Governor's Challenge Blood Drive

Send your comment to: editor@ourblooddrive.org