Shepeard Community Blood Center is turning World Cup hype into a lifesaving assist this week, raffling off three pairs of match tickets to boost blood donations through Friday. The five-day "Be the Match, See the Match" push pairs a rare fan experience with an urgent public health need across the Central Savannah River Area.
According to Shepeard Community Blood Center, anyone who donates at a Shepeard center or mobile drive from Monday, June 1, through Friday, June 5, will be automatically entered into drawings to win a pair of tickets to see Haiti vs. Morocco in Atlanta. The center notes there will be three chances to win and urges donors to use its QuickPass pre-screen system to speed up their visit.
As reported by WRDW, Shepeard President and CEO Benjamin Prijatel said the blood supply in the CSRA has dropped from about a 10-day supply earlier this year to roughly a two-day supply now. "Blood donors are true teammates in our community," Prijatel said, explaining why organizers opted for an attention-grabbing prize to spur urgently needed donations.
Why Summer Matters
The seasonal slide in blood donors is a familiar problem: collections typically fall when schools let out and people head out of town, leaving inventories tighter than usual, according to the American Red Cross. That pattern helps explain why local centers lean on short promotions and targeted drives in June and July to refill shelves before hospitals feel the pinch.
Where To Give And How To Enter
Shepeard Community Blood Center lists donation center hours and locations across the CSRA, along with phone numbers and its QuickPass pre-screen option to shorten visits. Organizers say donors who meet eligibility requirements and give during the campaign window will be entered automatically into the drawings.
The promotion ties a high-profile sporting event to a very practical local need, and organizers are betting the lure of a match-day experience will translate into enough donations to rebuild the region's inventory. For now, center leaders say the immediate goal is straightforward: get more donors in the door, as soon as possible, so hospital shelves stay stocked when patients need transfusions.
