January is National Blood Donor Month, and the Red Cross is going large with their incentives to recruit blood donors.
From now until the end of the month, donors can participate in any blood drive to be automatically entered to win a trip for two to Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas.
The prize for the winner and a guest of their choice, includes access to day-of in-stadium pre-game activities, tickets to the official Super Bowl Experience, round-trip airfare to Las Vegas, three-night hotel accommodations (Feb. 9-12, 2024), plus a $1,000 gift card for expenses.
You can find & register for a drive for your chance to go to Vegas by going to https://www.redcross.org/give-blood.html.
What is National Blood Donor Month?
National Blood Donor Month was enacted in 1970 by President Nixon, and is intended to create national attention and awareness around the critical need for blood donations in the winter.
Winter months are frequently harder for blood donations, as weather conditions, holidays, and seasonal illness often decrease the amount of both donors and drives.
This month is especially dire, however. According to a recent NPR interview with Dr. Eric Gehrie, an executive physician director for the Red Cross, there has been a 40% decrease in donors in recent years due to the pandemic, and they would need to get 8,000 more donors than expected each week this month in order to meet the current demand.
References
American Red Cross (2024). https://www.redcross.org/
