Early in January, the Fire Department was contacted by our neighbors to the east at Bloomington Fire to see if we wanted to “compete” in a “Battle of the Badges” event to donate blood to the Memorial Blood Centers. Of course we agreed, what a great cause to support and the firefighters of the EPFD are a very competitive bunch and always up for a challenge. The program goal is based on getting a 5% donation rate from the overall size of the group, so for Eden Prairie with almost 100 firefighters our goal was set at 5 people donating over the course of the month of January.
As you can see from the comments below, our folks and their friends really stepped up. Not only did the EPFD do well on a percentage basis, but also in terms of just the pure number of folks donating blood. Here are excerpts from the Blood drive coordinator:
“The results are in and the Eden Prairie Fire Department is the January 2010 Battle of the Badges Champion. Eden Prairie had ten times the donor goal and easily surpassed Bloomington Fire who also had an impressive rate of 4.7 times the donor rate. Eden Prairie had 48 total donors compared with Bloomington at 40.”
Of course the big winner here is the Blood Center. Thanks to everyone for taking time to donate to this great cause! Even though this contest is over, the need for blood donations goes on every day. If you are willing to do so, please contact the Memorial Blood Center for the donation location nearest to you, blood is always needed.
