Battle of the Badges in Texas District 5810

The five Rotary clubs in the City of Plano , District 5810, Texas, USA, brought in 429 units of blood during their annual blood donation event Battle of the Badges, a Rotary sponsored contest between Police and Fire Departments to see which of the two can attract the most blood donors.

18 of the 67 clubs in District 5810 held blood drives during July and secured 736 units of blood "through hard work and congratulations are in order for the effort," the district's blood donation chair, George Elking says .

The Plano blood donor achievement constitutes roughly 58 per cent of the total donation level in district for the month of July. The City of Plano hos about 268,000 residents.

In front of the Plano was the Plano Sunrise with 258 units of blood. The club has 54 members.

Another very active club was Wylie . Through their Battle of the Badges effort this small club generated 93 units of blood.  The number is four times the amount of the club's membership of 21, George Elking notes in his report. The City of Wylie has about 33,000 residents.

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The Battle of the Badges is a Rotary sponsored contest between Police and Fire Departments, which began in the city of Plano in 2005.  At this type of drive, District 5810 invites and solicits the general public to donate their blood for their favourites, either the fire or police departments.  To date the district has held this type of drive in several cities and towns.

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But more has to be done.

George Elking: "Comparing this year's effort with last year's at this same time, the district is running 230 units behind. We need to improve our effort."

"In order to reach District Governor Dave McSpadden's goal, we need help from all clubs in the district to increase their efforts. One way to do that is to have the 25 clubs that are still at the 0 donation level to contact us about getting involved with the program," the district blood donation chair emphasises.

Last year, District 5810 reached 6,095 units of blood, which was eight per cent below the goal of that Rotary year. The goal for 2009-10 is 6,610 units of blood.

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Comprised geographically of eight counties: Collin, Dallas, Ellis, Fannin, Grayson, Hunt, Kaufman, and Rockwall, in an area roughly seventy miles wide and one hundred forty miles long, District 5810 is the smallest of the nine present districts in Texas geographically, but it is tied with several of districts for the number of clubs. District 5810 is included in Rotary International Zone 26, which includes parts of Oklahoma and Louisiana.

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Editor's note: George Elking, Rotary District 5810, Blood Donation Chair, can be contacted by mail: GJELKING@aol.com or by phone: 972 424 1485

Click here to see District 5810's montly blood donation tallies for the months of April thorugh July or go to the journal DOWNLOAD.  

Click here to see the district's history of annual blood donations and goals 2003-2010 or go to the journal DOWNLOAD.

Go to the journal DOWNLOAD to see the Plano flyer for the blood donor event Battle of the Badges July 2009. 

Go to the journal PHOTOS to see pictures from District 5810's blood donation efforts.