Two fall 2025 reports were respectfully submitted by Kaywyn Beswick, R.N./Morrison Community ARC Blood Program Leader.
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The Morrison Community American Red Cross Blood Drive was held on Thursday, September 11, Patriot Day, from noon to 6:00 p.m., at St. Mary Catholic Church. The hall was decorated with flags, USA décor, and red, white, and blue napkins. It was a gorgeous day, weatherwise. The canteen sponsor was Wa-Tan-Ye Wome’s Club, our usual September sponsor. These faithful and dependable ladies purchased and prepared the sandwiches and homemade cookies for the canteen: Nancy Usterbowski, Monica Anderson, Ann Camp, Sonny Porter, Dee Janssen, Jan Horberg, and Diane Engelkens. Many donors express thanks for the delicious egg salad! Appreciation to St. Mary Church for allowing us to use their hall to facilitate the blood drives. Thank you to Irma Russell, who ran the registration desk, and Pam Jones and Vern Latwesen, for volunteering as post-escorts. I am thankful for your faithfulness. The ARC also gave over 50 T-shirts to all donors, in celebration of 75 years of the Peanuts cartoon created by Charles Schultz.
Terrific whole blood donors that attended the September drive were: Craig Brady, Barb Imel, Bill Kuehl, Penny Milnes (donating remembering 9-11), Randy Kuehl, Pam Shank, Deb Adolph, Brian Vogel, Leanne Keate, Renee Vanderlaan, Lory Oudekerk, Joyce Hamstra, Stephanie Vavra, Joan Vander Bleek, Ray W. Hager, Larry Tichler, Beth Wroble, Cynthia Hoogheem, Ken Gooley, Dale Beswick, Chris Hawkins, Darlene Tavares, Lisa Nice, Juan Martinez, Troy Peppers, Pam Jones, Bengy Grant, Dick Wieneke, Kari Forster, Keith Wiersema, Amy Oudekerk, Julie Brown, Dave Temple, Kenny Stewart, Sarah Bull, Joe R. Bielema, Tim West, Jerrie Jackley, Krysten Gerace, Brad Bielema, Constance Swanson-DeSpain, and six donors, who did not want their names published.
The wonderful double red cell/Power Red donors that came in were Tammy Pruis, Michael Stansifer, and six who did not want their names published.
We had nine donors obtain gallon pin milestones. Pam Jones and one gentleman who did not want his name printed both received one-gallon pins; Larry Tichler accomplished two gallons; Sarah Bull attaining three gallons; Joyce Hamstra achieved four gallons; Dave Temple reached ten gallons; Lisa Nice has given 11 gallons; Connie Swanson-DeSpain secured 14 gallons; 95-year-old Bill Kuehl (photographed below) earned 15-gallon status! These nine donors alone have produced 1456 units for patients!
The ARC goal for the day was 62, but we only obtained 57 units, which is 91.9% efficiency. There were 60 people who came through the doors, to give of their time and blood product in order to assist those in medical need. Eleven cancelled their appointments before the drive began, and there were only five “no shows;” but three “walk-ins” and three “first-time” donors helped balance out the difference. Ten donors were deferred, for various reasons (elevated heart rate, recent vaccination that needed a 30-day wait period, low hemoglobin/iron, and blood pressure too high.) The ARC does expect a 10% deferral rate to occur.
My personal goal is having minimal deferrals, no-shows, and cancellations. If you have ever been deferred for low HGB/iron, (like me), PLEASE warm your hands when you arrive at the drive, either by washing them in the restroom sink, or utilizing the heating pad I bring, or asking the ARC staff to use their “hand-warmers.” These techniques DO WORK. If you have to cancel your appointment or cannot make it in, text me, and I will cancel it. Then another donor can use your time slot. I have been messaging a reminder text to those who made appointments on their own, online, or by calling the 800 number; this has helped some, too.
The Thursday, November 13, Morrison Community Blood Drive was held from noon to 6:00 p.m., at St. Mary Catholic Church, with the St. Mary parish family being the sponsor. The ARC again offered free A1C testing on the blood that donors donate in November, with results being available within two weeks after donating. The American Red Cross teamed up with Abbott Labs and had donors “pick a Big 10 team” and log onto a link to “vote” for their school–l in order to have a T-shirt mailed to them. Schools received a “point” for each vote; the winning school receives a grant from Abbott Labs. If you donated at our November drive, you should have gotten an email with the link.
St. Mary Catholic Church Women purchased and prepared sandwiches, cookies, green grapes, cuties, and cheese sticks. They were Karen Stralow, Dee Runions, Joan Vander Bleek, Fran Plude, Shirley Nowak, and Mary Latwesen. Thank you, ladies, for the fine sandwich choices, the great cookies, and the wonderful fresh fruit; it was gratefully appreciated by the donors, staff, and volunteers. Post-escorts for the day were Pam Jones and Vern Latwesen; thank you for you faithful dependability. Our certified ARC Volunteer was Irma Russell; I am much obliged when you come! We are indebted to Terry Hoehn, of the Knights of Columbus, who almost always comes to clear out the church hall before the blood drive, and returns to put everything back after the drive is over. Words cannot express my tremendous appreciation for all the canteen sponsors throughout the year; all the volunteers who help give a hand; all the faithful donors who keep coming back! I am in awe of the generous people in our communities who “just do it.” You are all so amazing in my book!
There were 58 caring individuals who came through our doors on November 13. The fabulous blood donors were Jill Vegter, Cathie Downs, Barb Imel, Duane Imel, Deb Adolph, Lyle Bush, Stephanie Vavra, Joseph Sage, Penny Milnes, Jack Jones, Pam Shank, Randy Kuehl, Mary Boelkins, Thomas Rosenbalm, Renee Vanderlaan, Nancy Bartels, Leanne Keate, Craig Brady, Lory Oudekerk, Lorna Temple, Jenna Landheer, Jackie Damhoff, Beth Wroble, Mel Johnson (photographed below), Joan Vander Bleek, Dale Beswick, Larry Sonberg, Sheila Sonberg, Eric W. Larson, Lisa Nice, Ray W. Hager, Nancy Shank, Jonathon Bush, Kurt Sommers, Steve Wiersema, Kaywyn Beswick, Troy Peppers, Pam Jones, Kelsie Lowery, Ken Gooley, Dick Wieneke, Jack Fritz, Sarah Bull, Joe R. Bielema, Brandon Jansma,Dave Temple, Sue Gomez, Kelly Smith, Connie Swanson-DeSpain, Luke Vander Bleek, and eight donors who did not want their names published.
Unfortunately, the ARC was not letting any of our double-red-cell/Power Red donors give two units of packed red blood cells; we found this out a week before the drive. Apparently there is a “supply shortage of the Power Red machine solution,” so everyone had to give whole blood. Regrettably, I had 16 of 18 DRC appointments already filled, which would have potentially been 32 more units towards our goal. I informed my donor rep that we would not be reaching our goal. There were ten “no shows” and three cancellations, but three walk-ins and four “filled appointments” (donors who go online and sign up in an empty appointment slot after the blood drive has started), helped balance those out. Deferrals numbered eight, which was about 13.8%; ARC plans on a 10-15% deferral rate.
Four donors achieved gallon milestones. They were Kurt Sommers attaining 2-gallons; Jackie Damhoff reaching 3-gallons; Kelly Smith gaining 4-gallons; Lisa Nice earning 11-gallons. These four generous givers have helped save around 450 lives!
Our first ARC Morrison Community Blood Drive of 2026 will held on Thursday, January 8, from noon to 6:00 p.m., at St. Mary Catholic Church. The canteen sponsor for January will be the Ebenezer Reformed Church Women. Hopefully the “supply shortage of DRC machine solution” will be solved by then.
Thank you all for your patience on finally getting my reports published. An injury from a fall on my part and a computer issue at thecity1.com, both had caused delays in getting these reports into print.
May you all have a blessed Christmas holiday season and a prosperous healthy New Year 2026! Stay safe and warm!