Lakewood Church Accepts National Award for Post-Ike Blood Drive

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Joyce Kahleh, head of Lakewood's Community Outreach Team, accepts the Award of Excellence from America's Blood Centers.

Joyce Kahleh, head of Lakewood's Community Outreach Team, accepts the Award of Excellence from America's Blood Centers.

View more photos at The Blood Center's Flickr page: www.flickr.com/photos/commitforlife

March 23, 2009

Lakewood Church, in partnership with Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center, received a top award for helping save lives at America’s Blood Centers’ (ABC) annual meeting March 16 in Arlington, Va.

Lakewood won ABC’s Award of Excellence in the category of “Most Productive” for a blood drive by a large organization. The award recognized Lakewood’s response to Hurricane Ike, which caused The Blood Center to cease operations for four days. Lakewood helped replenish the blood supply by hosting a drive that collected 429 blood donations – enough to help save as many as 1,300 lives. Joyce Kahleh, head of Lakewood’s Community Outreach Team, accepted the honor on Lakewood’s behalf.

“Victoria and I are very proud of our members, volunteers, staff and all who participated in the blood drive,” said Pastor Joel Osteen. “It shows how much we can accomplish when we give of ourselves to help others in need, especially those in our community of Houston and our neighbors, the Gulf Coast region.”

“Hurricane Ike had a significant impact on the region’s blood supply. Lakewood Church members’ generosity helped us return to an adequate blood supply for the thousands of patients at the hospitals we serve.  It is remarkable we could do this much in such a short amount of time,” said Steve Ruth, Director of Donor Recruitment for Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center.

Founded in 1962, ABC is North America's largest network of non-profit, community blood centers located in 45 U.S. states and Canada.