Vitalant hosting blood drives in Goodyear

Blood donors have an extra reason to give through Sept. 6, as they will be automatically entered to win a 2024 VW Jetta S, donated by the seven Valley Volkswagen dealers.

There are several events taking place in outside communities but in Goodyear, Vitalant is hosting only two more blood drives before the end of the raffle. Desert Edge High School, 15778 W. Yuma Road, will host the Vitalant team and community donors from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday, July 19, and the final event is at Desert Springs Community Church, 14440 W. Indian School Road, from 8 a.m. to noon Sunday, July 28.

Ten finalists will be drawn to participate in the Volkswagen grand prize ceremony and will be unveiled throughout the summer on local news station, CW7 Arizona.

Vitalant is Arizona’s largest nonprofit community blood provider that fulfills transfusion needs for 100% of the hospitals in Maricopa County and 90% statewide. Donations around the Independence Day holiday are consistently among the lowest of the year. Vitalant and the Valley Volkswagen dealers have run a similar campaign for 15 years in efforts to boost summer donations.

Donors of all blood types are needed to rebuild Vitalant’s, and the state’s, blood supplies. This is especially the case for type O blood, which is the most transfused blood type. O-negative can be used to help any patient in an emergency and O-positive can help any patient with a positive blood type.