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Spotlight on Success

Spotlight on Success

St. Luke’s United Methodist Church in Houston is a Commit for Life rising star!  This group set a goal for 2006 to be their greatest life-saving year and have already saved as many as 987 lives – with one more drive to go!

The church has hosted successful blood drives for more than 25 years and has many long-time dedicated donors.  But with the ever-increasing need for blood components in our community, they decided to focus on creative new ways to boost participation. Chairperson Sally Hardy and her Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center account representative, Andrea Johnson, examined current donations and devised a strategy for even greater success.

One way they achieved this goal was by utilizing Path for Success blood drive tools like eBloodDrive.  Individuals are encouraged to schedule their donations, which helps the drives run smoothly with minimal waiting time.  This change has affected retention of existing donors as they are encouraged by the positive experience to come back to future drives.  Other successful efforts to retain and recruit donors include: calls and e-mails about upcoming drives; sign-up tables; bulletin, newsletter and scrolling TV monitor messages; and Sunday school notices. One of the ministers even makes an announcement during each service leading up to the blood drive!

Sally and Andrea also analyzed the demographics of past blood drives to reach more potential donors. They determined which groups in the church were donating least frequently, and designed specific messages targeted to each.  They are now actively pursuing high school, college and young adult ministries within the church to increase their participation in the Commit for Life program. Additionally, they determined that double red cell apheresis donations could increase the number of lives saved without decreasing per-drive participation.

Sally still uses many of the techniques that have been successful over the years, like encouraging donors to bring a friend and sign up as families, or Sunday school classes to donate.  Sometimes the church provides gifts, such as mugs or gift certificates, as incentives, and each donor also receives a thank-you letter and is invited back to the next drive. Educating the congregation about the current need for blood donations, especially throughout the holiday season, is ongoing.  These new efforts have only enhanced their successful blood drive program.

St. Luke’s United Methodist Church in Houston is a great example of how Commit for Life and the Path for Success can impact lives in the community, now…and in the future.