Families are encouraged by the Red Cross to give blood together in 2025

Salt Lake City, Utah – Donate blood this New Year to inspire and educate your family and demonstrate to the next generation the great power of giving.

Benjamin Donner, Executive Director of the American Red Cross Central and Southern Utah Chapter, stated that the New Year’s holiday offers a special chance for parents to engage their kids in charitable activities. Children experience acts of generosity when they watch their parents donate blood. By the time kids are sixteen, they will feel empowered to make their own contributions in addition to understanding the significance of giving.

Youngsters learn how minor sacrifices may have a significant impact when they observe a parent’s generosity at the donation center. Families are urged to assist address a pressing need in the community by incorporating blood donation into their New Year’s customs. Teens in Utah who are 16 or 17 years old, weigh at least 110 pounds, and are in excellent health are eligible to donate with a signed parental consent form.

Donors may help by contacting 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767), visiting redcrossblood.org, or using the Red Cross Blood Donor App to make an appointment.

• Patients are counting on the kindness and generosity of blood donors. This holiday season, we urge you to give blood or platelets to help make a lifesaving difference for those in need.

• Type O blood donors are especially needed to ensure a strong blood supply.

• Type O negative is the universal blood type and is crucial in emergency situations when there is no time to determine a patient’s blood type.

• Type O positive is the most transfused blood type. O-positive blood is compatible with any positive blood type (A+, B+, AB+, and O+), which means it can be given to more than 80% of the population.

• If immediate slots are unavailable, donors are urged to book future appointments to help maintain a steady blood supply.

• The Red Cross supplies about 40% of our nation’s blood supply serving more than 2,500 hospitals and blood transfusion centers across the United States.

• All those who come to give Dec. 16, 2024-Jan. 3, 2025, will get an exclusive Red Cross long-sleeved T-shirt, while supplies last.