Red Cross honors Lawrence Livermore as biggest blood donor west of Mississippi

LIVERMORE, Calif. – For more than 22 years, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has consistently ranked as the top blood donor west of the Mississippi River, according to the American Red Cross.

The Red Cross honored the Laboratory this week with a special award for its volunteer efforts and the number of lives saved as a result. Since Laboratory employees began donating through the Red Cross, the Lab has tallied more than 25,000 units of blood, for an estimated 75,000 lives saved.

The Red Cross also singled out a small group of individual employees, who over the years donated between 12 and 17 gallons of blood each. Collectively eight employees donated more than 100 gallons of blood.

For their efforts Jan Siva, chief executive officer of the Northern California Blood Services Region, presented the employees with special certificates, while the Laboratory presented each employees with a commemorative coin.

"Our employees have national security in their blood, and then they give that blood," noted Tom Gioconda, deputy director of the Laboratory.

The Red Cross comes to the Laboratory three times a year for employees who wish to donate blood. Forty percent of the nation’s blood supply comes through the American Red Cross. Siva also thanked the Lab’s retirees, who volunteer their help during the blood drives. "Ninety-one cents of every dollar donated goes to the cause, so the Red Cross is dependent on those volunteers."