MEDIA RELEASE
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25 July 2017
Mayor of Blacktown City Stephen Bali has rolled up his sleeves to give a life-saving blood donation to the Red Cross Blood Service.
Mayor Bali donated blood at the Red Cross mobile blood donor van at Blacktown Kmart carpark, as part of Blacktown Council’s Red25 Blood Challenge.
“It is important that as many people as possible take the opportunity to donate blood,” he said.
“Donating blood doesn’t take long and you could save three lives in the process.”
The Red25 Council Blood Challenge is run by the Australian Red Cross Blood Service and encourages staff at local councils to donate blood between July and September.
NSW council blood donations throughout this period are tallied against each other with the most blood donations from the one council winning the challenge.
Mayor Bali’s donation takes Council’s tally to 20 blood donations, which could save up to 60 lives.
He has set a goal of 100 donations from Council staff, which could save 300 lives.
In Australia, about 25,000 donations of blood are needed every week.
Australian Red Cross Community Relations Officer Ronny Maroun said the need for blood was constant, but Winter was a particularly tough time for Australia’s blood supply.
“The reason Winter is so crucial to us is it’s cold and flu season and that rules out a lot of our regular blood donors,” he said.
“Even if you’ve got a sore throat or a runny nose we encourage people not to donate at that time because they may need the blood product themselves to fight off that cold or flu.”
An Australian Red Cross Blood Service mobile blood donor van will be at the Blacktown Kmart carpark on Thursday 3 to Saturday 5 August and Thursday 21 to Friday 22 September.
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