Virginia Beach Post 110 of The American Legion hosted a Halloween Blood Drive on Sunday, October 31st at the Mid-Atlantic Blood Services Region’s Pembroke Blood Donation Center in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Volunteers from Post 110 manned the reception desk and canteen, while the “vampires” from the American Red Cross drew 29 pints of lifesaving blood from their willing “victims.” Each person donating blood received a free vampire t-shirt from the American Red Cross.

Blood cannot be manufactured – it can only come from generous donors. There are four types of transfusable products that can be derived from blood: red cells, platelets, plasma and cryoprecipitate. Typically, two or three of these are produced from a pint of donated whole blood – hence each donation can help save up to three lives. Headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia, the Mid-Atlantic Region is part of a national network system that is comprised of 36 blood regions and nine National Testing Laboratories. The region provides for the blood needs of over 3.5 million people annually within central and southeastern Virginia and eastern North Carolina.