Council 9765 Host St. Mary’s Catholic Parish Blood Drive

The Knights of Columbus Council 9765 hosted their second in-house blood drive involving St. Mary’s Catholic Parish, St. Mary’s Stewardship Committee, and South Texas Blood & Tissue Center (“STBTC”). The blood drive was held in St. Mary’s Holy Family Center from 8 a.m. through 1 p.m.

KC member Bob Sagebiel coordinated with Rita-Holmberg Woodman, the Hill Country Donor Recruitment Consultant with STBTC.

According to Sagebiel, the Knights use the blood drive as a “parish mixer”. This is a time where our members have an opportunity to gather and are able to “come greet old friends, come meet new friends, but more importantly they come to save a life!” One donation can save up to three lives.

The Knights provide breakfast for anyone who attends, to be offset by a free will offering. Donors however, are provided complimentary breakfast. The Knights cook team, led by Larry Rabalais and Larry Pesek, provide a variety of homemade breakfast tacos, sausages, and biscuits with gravy or jellies. The Stewardship Committee added doughnuts, juice and coffee to the menu. Over 335 parishioners and donors were served, with many paying the real price of admission: Donating a pint of blood.

Sagebiel chuckled, “Word is getting out about the breakfast, beyond St. Mary’s Parish. We had several donors from outside the parish that had heard about the outstanding breakfast that is included with the blood drive. But the important thing is that we have had such a great response to the call for blood, and I think that is truly divine.”

Rita Holmberg Woodman affirmed, “We appreciate the ongoing invitation to hold blood drives here at St. Mary’s. For us, this is a very well organized and an extremely successful blood drive. We surpassed our projected goal of 100 units by a huge amount, gathering 149 units. Winter months are always a challenge for blood centers, and this drive helped to “fill the bank” for our local needs. This is the second blood drive we have had at St. Mary’s. As far as I can remember, STBTC has never had such a successful response. Both of the blood drives here have been record setters for us, we could not be more pleased. STBTC extends our special thanks to all of the donors for their outstanding response, especially for this time of year, when donations are typically in a down cycle.”

The Knights of Columbus Council 9765 will host additional blood drives. Future dates have been set for Sunday, April 24, 2016, Sunday August 21, 2016, and Sunday December 18, 2016. For more information, you may contact either Bob Sagebiel at 830-990-8038, bsagebiel@austin.rr.com or STB&T Rita Holmberg Woodman at 830-522-0178 rita.holmberg@southtexasblood.org.