DAS/OIT recognized for blood donations
-- DAS Office of Employee Services, October 2005

Strong blood donations from DAS/OIT-sponsored drives have led to recognition for the agency.

The Ohio Department of Administrative Services placed third in the state government division of the 2005 Life Sharing Challenge awards given Sept. 16 by the Central Ohio Blood Services Region of the American Red Cross.

The agency was among more than 45 central Ohio organizations honored by the American Red Cross for top performances in blood drives held during the past fiscal year.

Awards are determined by the number of points organizations accumulate based on the number of drives, the success of those drives, the number of drives held during the summer and holidays, the number of first-time donors and employee participation.

DAS collected 212 points for sponsoring nine drives during the year at the Rhodes Tower Blood Donor Center and at the General Services Division headquarters on Surface Road. A total of 187 units of whole blood were collected.

The Red Cross collects approximately 185,000 units of blood in central Ohio annually. Of the annual collections, 51.2 percent comes from community-sponsored drives and 48.8 percent comes from business-sponsored drives.