On November 29, 2018 CASCO + R|5 hosted our 8th biannual American Red Cross Blood drive. This was our first drive since moving to Maplewood, due to space and lighting limitations we were unable to hold the drive in our new space, so we used the American Red Cross Bloodmobile for the first time. This offered us a great opportunity to open the drive to the rest of the office complex. Due to our dedicated staff and many from the office park this was our largest and most successful drive to date. Over the past 4 years we have collectively donated 194 pints of blood which has the potential to save up to 582 lives in our community. We have already scheduled the next 2 drive for 2019, they will be May 9th and November 14th, and hope the drives will continue to grow and be more successful.
The American Red Cross does so much more than just blood drives. They provide training/certifications for many life saving skills such as first aid, CPR, AED, Lifeguarding, basic swimming, babysitting to name just a few. They also provide information on emergency preparedness for all types of emergencies. Besides blood drive they are most known for their disaster relief services offered to many families/ communities every year. They also provide support to military families around the county. The services provided by the American Red Cross stretch much farther than the St. Louis area, further than just MO, further than the entire United States, they are working worldwide to bring hope to the ones who need it the most.
There are several ways that we all can be involved to help the American Red Cross save lives around the globe. They depend on volunteers year-round in all aspects of what they do. Approximately 90% of the Red Cross workforce is volunteers. Become trained in one of the life saving classes they offer, then become one of the trainers spreading the skills around your work, community, family, etc. Blood donations are very simple and make a large impact. The donated blood goes to help cancer patients, trauma patients, sickle cell patents, burn patients and patients with chronic diseases to name a few. Monetary donations are also always greatly appreciated. These donations help support the free support given to those in need both in the local community and around the world.