Mobile Blood Drive returns to Queenstown

A big reason why we don’t often visit the Queenstown Lakes District to collect is because it poses some logistical and financial challenges for us in terms of flying donated blood back to Christchurch each day for processing in a timely manner once it has been collected.
Despite this, the Southern team listened to the feedback they’d received from donors and were able to work around that by collecting earlier in the day.

The mobile drive took place at St Margaret's Church in Frankton over three days aiming to collect 200 donations while in the area.
We actively promoted the mobile blood drive in the Queenstown Lakes District four weeks in advance to ensure we had the best shot at filling appointments – posters, press ads and community FB posts were used to help spread the word. Kris Perkins, a local mum, and marketer whose four year old son had recently been the recipient of blood, provided important on the ground support – connecting us to business and community groups. We also had a lot of media interest from local newspapers about what we were doing – this coverage helped us educate people about what it had been so long since we last visited and promote the importance of getting involved.

The Queenstown Lakes District community turned out in force to ensure we hit our collection targets during the three days we were there.
We collected 217 donations saving up to 650 lives. A great result!

Linda Burt, our Southern Donor Relations Coordinator told us “Queenstown was very chilly but despite that, the mobile went well. It was VERY well received by the residents of not only Queenstown but surrounding areas like Wanaka. A mix of people showed up to donate. There were a lot of walkin’s plus lapsed and new donors provided support which was fantastic.
“People were enquiring when we’re coming back as they’re really hoping to see us again soon. We’ll give some thought to that taking into consideration the logistical challenges we face collecting in this region.”

Though teamwork, perseverance and thinking differently about how to tackle a big challenge like this just goes to show what’s possible when you put your mind to it.
Thanks to everyone in Queenstown Lakes District involved in helping us.


Michael Mcleod – Michael was very interesting to chat with, he shared his story as to why he is donating. Unfortunately, Michael was hit by a car 25 years ago and had many blood transfusions to keep him alive, he came to donate as now is his chance to give back and help others. He was also O Neg!

 
Christine Urbani – Christine completed her 50^th donation at the Queenstown mobile. Christine only realised the morning of her appointment that it was her 50^th donation – she was absolutely buzzing.

 
Tom, Mitchell and Mitchell – Team red from Powell Fenwick, joined us on the Wednesday, was great to have then along.