NORTH BRUNSWICK – More than 2,000 volunteers of the World Mission Society Church of God are donating blood this month along the East Coast as part of the 2018 Mega Blood Drive in commemoration of the New Covenant Passover.
In North Brunswick, 112 Church of God members donated 72 pints of units of blood on April 22 in efforts to save 216 lives, as one unit of blood can save up to three lives. The North Brunswick blood drive was in partnership with NY Blood Center.
“We’re thankful for this opportunity to host a Mega Blood Drive to save many lives in need of blood transfusions while raising awareness about the New Covenant Passover,” Wilmer Rapozo, volunteer of the Church of God, said in a statement provided by the church.
The 2018 Mega Blood Drive for the Passover kicked off on April 8 in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania, and Charlotte, North Carolina. On April 15, three locations held blood drives in Ridgewood, Boston and Miami.
Seven churches held blood drives simultaneously on April 22. Those churches are located in North Brunswick; Belleville; Long Island, New York; New Windsor, New York; Durham, North Carolina; Newport News, Virginia; and Tampa.
With blood shortages being a constant battle in the United States, the World Mission Society Church of God has sought to solve the shortages through its series of mega blood drive events, according to the statement. In 2016, the Church of God hosted its mega blood drive in more than a dozen locations including the Caribbean.
In 2015, the Church of God’s Mega Blood Drive at NYU’s Kimmel Center broke two records: the most blood collected in an hour and the most double red cells collected in a drive.
Additionally, the blood drive collected more than 1,400 units of blood in less than seven hours. In 2014, the Church of God hosted its Mega Blood Drive at the Bergen County Law and Public Safety Institute and collected more than 1,100 units of blood.
