A Huge Success!

Wow! When Jason and I started planning this Blood Drive, we of course hoped that we would have a good turn out, but we never dreamed that we would have the amazing turn out that we did. The doors opened for people to sign-in at 9:00 am, and the gym stayed full until the last donors gave (me and Jason) at 4:15. Everyone was socializing, eating, and appearing to have a great time...except for when they were being stuck with the needle of course! We had so much fun getting to talk with family, friends, and even strangers throughout the day. Jason and I are completely blown away by the number of people that came out to show their support for our little Colby!



After much debate between Jason and myself, we finally decided that Colby should be able to be there and be a part of his big day. After all, everyone was coming in his honor! We were very nervous about him being out of his "bubble," but we took as many precautions as we could to keep him healthy. Fortunately, everyone there was very respectful of his space. It is so crazy to think that this is the first time many of the people there have ever seen Colby in person. It was almost like his debut! One of our good friends joked that we did this blood drive just to prove that Colby does exist!



Big brother Brody was also there the entire day, and he did amazingly well! If you know Brody, you know he likes his naps, but he hung in there and never even got cranky. We can probably thank the number of cookies he ate for that! Brody spent the entire day running and playing with all of his buddies. I'm so glad that our friends allowed their kids to come be a part of this and spend the day with Brody. It made it such a fun day for him! Thank you guys!



I mentioned that Brody ate a lot of cookies, but I don't think you understand the amount of food that we had there unless you saw it first hand! We were shocked at how many people were kind enough to spend time baking muffins, cookies, brownies, sausage balls, breads, etc. I wish I had a picture of the food table...it was incredible! After seeing all of the food, we realized we should have had a bake sale. We would have been able to make a nice donation to CHD research. Next time we do a blood drive, we will definitely keep this in mind.



Thank you to everyone that provided us with food. I want you to know that we truly appreciate it! I also want you to know that none of the food went to waste. We distributed the remaining food to different local outreach programs. Two of these programs are run by our Church...a homeless outreach program and a partnership with a local Assisted Living Facility. We also sent some food with one of our neighbors that just happened to be working Room in the Inn at her church that night. I hope that this food was enjoyed by everyone that received it. I know that everyone at the blood drive truly enjoyed it all...everything was delicious!



So, now for the numbers...

• 85 people signed in at the door


• 75 people went through the interview/screening process (10 people had to leave due to previous engagements...I apologize again for the long wait time!)


• Several people (I don't have an official count) were turned away at the door, because the red cross could not accommodate any more walk ins


• 65 productive donors!!! (10 of the 75 were deferred due to medical reasons)


• 31 of the 65 donors were first timers, including myself

These are just incredible numbers! Again, Jason and I are completely blown away by the support shown for Colby. We knew Colby was a special baby, but we had no idea just how special! It is so amazing for us to think about how many lives he has touched in his very short life. I'll never understand why God blessed us with such a "Super Baby!"

Thank you to everyone who was a part of this day! We truly appreciate you choosing to spend several hours donating blood on not only a Saturday, but also Valentine's Day! We love each and every one of you! Thank you to those that came and volunteered your time as well, even though you weren't able to donate blood. Because of all of you, the day ran very smoothly! Jason and I want to say a very special thank you to our moms...Joan (Nana) and Teresa (Granna). Once again, you two stepped up and supported us like only moms can! We really appreciate you spending your entire Saturday helping us out! We love you both very much!!!!!!!!!

We have already had some close friends say that we need to make this an annual event. Jason and I think that this is a great idea, especially now that we are recovered from the long day Saturday! So, we may be doing this again next February. I can't think of a better way to recognize CHD Awareness Day than by gathering people to give blood!