KENT COUNTY, MI (June 7, 2007):  On Monday, June 11, 2007 blood donors in two new areas of Kent County will have the chance to donate at new Community Donor Centers being opened that day by Michigan Community Blood Centers.

The Rockford Community Donor Center will open for the first time at the Fire Barn, 7 South Monroe Street in Rockford, with blood donors welcome from Noon to 4 p.m. Following the June 11 opening, the Rockford Community Donor Center will be open to donors the first Monday of every other month (2007 dates: Aug 6, Oct 1, Dec 3), Noon to 4, at the Community Cabin, 7 South Monroe Street.

The Lowell Community Donor Center will open at the King Memorial Youth Center at the Kent County Fairgrounds, home of the Kent County Youth Fair, 225 S. Hudson in Lowell, with blood donors welcome from Noon to 7 p.m. Following the June 11 opening, this site will be open to blood donors on the second Monday every month, Noon to 7 (2007 donation dates:  June 11, July 9, Aug 13, Sept 10, Oct 8, Nov 12, Dec 10).

Any healthy person 17 or older who weighs 110 pounds or more may be eligible to give blood every 56 days.

According to Doug Klynstra, who supervises Michigan Community Blood Centers donor recruitment in West Michigan, the continuing development of community donor centers such as the sites in Rockford and Lowell “hopefully will provide a convenient location for people in various areas of the county to give blood regularly. By bringing the opportunity to donate blood to many convenient locations, we hope to encourage more people to become regular blood donors.”

Michigan Community Blood Centers is the independent nonprofit blood bank that provides 100 percent of the regular blood supply for hospitals in four major regions of the state with a combined population of more than 1. 5 million, including all the hospitals in Kent County.

© Michigan Community Blood Centers