For over 40 years, the Huntingdon Optimist Club volunteers have been organizing an annual blood drive. Huntingdon’s club president, Manon Crête, says, “It’s an activity that the Optimist Club has been doing for a long time. Our goal this year is to have 72 donors.” The drive usually happens once a year in the fall; however, it was decided to push it up to the spring this year. In over four decades, the only year that they had to cancel was 2020, when they couldn’t operate due to the COVID-19 lockdown.
The 2025 blood drive will take place on March 25 from 1:30 to 7:30 p.m. at 8 Fairview Street in Huntingdon. This year, Crête is the lead volunteer organizing the blood drive. “There is one person who takes on the communication and takes the reins from other members, but it really is a team effort. We’re a really good team at the Optimist Club,” she explains. Everyone working on the drive is an unpaid volunteer, which is how all their activities operate.
This event is an important one. Crête says, “To live in society is not just to live for ourselves, it’s to help and give what we can.” Giving blood has an immediate impact and is often a matter of life and death. “To give blood is to give life. It will touch children, adults, elders; there are people who really need it to survive. It’s important to us; that’s why we’ve been doing it for years,” she adds.
These blood drives are done in partnership with Héma-Quebec, whose website provides some important facts about blood donations. For example, every 80 seconds, someone in Quebec needs blood. To keep up with this demand, 1000 donations need to be made each day. The site also explains that the more people who donate blood, the better, and as doctors look for the best compatibility between donor and recipient, diversity of donors is extremely important.
Héma-Quebec also describes how donating blood is a completely safe procedure, with no risk of contracting any diseases. All needles are sterile, new for each donor, and discarded after a single use. You must be over the age of 18 to be eligible to donate.
Signing up for the blood drive is very simple. Interested parties can either do so by visiting hemaquebec.ca/prendre-rendez-vous, or by calling 1-800-343-7264 to schedule an appointment. Folks who don’t have a scheduled appointment are also welcome to show up, but priority will be given to those who have made a reservation. “We’ll be there to greet you!” Crête says.