KINGSPORT, Tenn. (WJHL) – To welcome in the summer season, Marsh Regional Blood Center held a blood drive Monday that is sure to draw out Parrotheads.
The Jimmy Buffett blood drive is being held at the Kingsport Farmers Market from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. The farmers market can be found at 308 Clinchfield St.
“It is great in here,” said Stephanie Sukel, Director Marsh Regional Blood Center. “We’ve got the Jimmy Buffett theme decorations going on. So it’s a lot of fun. We would love to see at least 150 people come out today. That is pretty much the daily need of what we need to collect and blood units to supply our community. Right now, there is still a national deficit in blood collections.”
All donors will be given a free tropical T-shirt along with a snack and a Sunset Slush Classic Italian Ice.
Additionally, all donors will be automatically entered in a chance to win an overnight stay in Pigeon Forge at Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville hotel. Other community members can also enter for a chance to win without donating blood.
Marsh Regional supplies blood to 21 area hospitals as well as local cancer centers.
“We want to make sure that we have enough to help the patients in our hospitals,” Sukel said. “So we’ve been busy today so far, [and] we hope to see that throughout the rest of the day. Come on down. And we can tell you about platelet donations, which are super important donations. You have to schedule those, but that helps patients in our area too.”
