LifeStream Blood Bank’s 11th annual ‘9 Cities Challenge’ officially begins Saturday, July 1, and runs until Thursday, Aug. 31.
The nine participating cities for the friendly competition to see which city can generate the most blood donations are: Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Desert Hot Springs, Indio, La Quinta, Rancho Mirage, Coachella, Indian Wells and Cathedral City. KESQ – News Channel 3 opens the challenge for the Coachella Valley with its kick-off blood drive on Friday, June 23, at its headquarters in Thousand Palms.
“The 9 Cities Challenge is one of our favorite events of the year,” said Dr. Rick Axelrod, LifeStream president/CEO & medical director. “Blood donors come out to support their cities and local patients in need. Every year, it’s a showcase of dedication to the health of our community and great fun for everyone involved. Summer is always one of the hardest seasons for blood collection, so we hope to hit our 1,500-pint collection goal this year. Every blood donation makes an impact. Just one pint can save three lives. If we hit our collection goal, not only will it be a record-breaking number for the 9 Cities Challenge, but 1,500 pints will save over 4,500 lives.”
This year, every donor will receive an exclusive 9 Cities Challenge bucket hat, while supplies last. The overall winner of the competition will be the city with the most pints collected from July 1 to Aug. 31. Last year, the City of Palm Springs took home the title with 229 pints collected. Overall, 1,100 pints were collected during the 2022 9 Cities Challenge, helping save 3,300 local lives.In addition to the award for the city that collects the most pints, there are also awards for the city that hosts the biggest collecting blood drive and the city with the highest resident participation rate per total population (minimum 1.5 percent required).
Residents may also participate by donating toward their city’s total at LifeStream’s fixed-site donor centers in La Quinta (46-660 Washington Street, Suite 4) or Rancho Mirage (42390 Bob Hope Drive, Suite 1B). If you would like to donate at one of these centers, ask LifeStream staff to count the donation toward your city’s total, and they will enter a code.To schedule an appointment, view the participating drives, a live ranking board and bucket hat design, visit www.lstream.org/9cities.
LifeStream is a nonprofit, local, comprehensive blood bank that provides blood products and services to more than 80 Southern California hospitals. For more information call 800-879-4484 or visit LStream.org.
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