GRAND RAPIDS, MI (July 23, 2007): Five aspiring local rock bands and two established local rock bands will be featured at the First Annual ROCK ‘N’ ROLL UP YOUR SLEEVE SUMMER CONCERT & BLOOD DRIVE on Tuesday, July 24, from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Michigan Community Blood Centers, 1036 Fuller Avenue.

WYCE 88.1FM is sponsoring the unique event to help pump up the local blood supply and to recruit a particular blood-donor group that seems especially elusive in the heat of summer: teenagers and young adults. Any healthy person 17 or older weighing 110 pounds or more may be eligible to give blood every 56 days.

Starting at 3 p.m. garage bands will engage in a “battle of the bands”, with winners determined by blood donors’ votes. The battling bands will include (in order of appearance) Absinthe, National Cadaver, Fight This War, Spencer Mulder, and Behind Lies Ruin.

At 6 p.m., headline bands Left-Hand Daisy and The Lynn Thompson Band will take over.

“During the school year, donors at high-school and college drives account for more than 12% of the blood we collect,” said Heidi McDaniel, who heads mobile blood drive recruitment for Michigan Community Blood Centers in West Michigan. “That falls way off in the summer because the schools and colleges are on break and not holding blood drives. With summer being a very hard time to keep the blood supply strong, we thought we would try something new and different to encourage high-school and college donors to come in and donate blood at our main donor center.”

McDaniel is quick to point out that while recruiting younger donors is the main point of the event, donors of all ages will be welcome at the ROCK ‘N’ ROLL UP YOUR SLEEVE concert and blood drive – so welcome, in fact, that everyone who tries to give blood will get a “Rock ‘n’ Roll Up Your Sleeve” T-shirt, free pizza from Papa Murphy’s, and a chance to win a vacation for 4 to Orlando, Florida, courtesy of Allegiant Air and Dolphin Vacations.

A nonprofit blood bank that provides blood for hospitals in four regions of the state, Michigan Community Blood Centers locally provides 100% of the blood supply for all hospitals in Kent and Barry counties. After local hospitals’ needs have been met, Michigan Community Blood Centers shares any available blood with other communities across the state and nation, and also responds to disaster-related and military needs for blood. As a member of America’s Blood Centers, Michigan Community Blood Centers belongs to a network of community blood banks that span 45 states and Canada, collecting 50% of the US blood supply and 100% of the Canadian blood supply.

© Michigan Community Blood Centers