MORRIS PLAINS — For the very first time in its 50-plus year history, the Morris Area Community Blood Program has collected over 1,000 pints of blood in a single year. On Saturday, December 26, at its 13th community blood drive of 2020, Jim Patella of Whippany became the 1,000th blood donor of 2020.
Patella, an engineer with AT&T, has been donating blood for over 40 years, and to date has donated approximately seven gallons of blood in that time.
The Morris Area Community Blood Program has been in continuous operation as a volunteer organization since the mid-1960s. Since that time, it has grown from a twice-a-year program to an operation that runs 24 public blood drives per year and is consistently one of the most successful community blood programs in the state of New Jersey.
Jointly sponsored by the Borough of Morris Plains, the Morris Plains Rotary Club and NJ Blood Services (a division of the Greater NY Blood Center), the Morris Area Community Blood Program began life as the Morris Plains/Fairchild Blood Program and has since grown to serve communities in a several mile radius from its roots.
The program has always been run by a group of local volunteers, who plan, schedule, and manage the logistics of blood drives that typically draw between 60 and 100 volunteer blood donors to each community drive.
Currently, its community blood drives are held at the Morris Plains Community Center, 51 Jim Fear Drive, Morris Plains, twice monthly, alternately on a Saturday and on a weekday.
For more information on the blood drives call (973) 998-1081 or email Larry Ripley by clicking here.
