April 2021 Philanthropy Update
As we celebrate the coming spring and the hope of sunnier days ahead, SDBB is honored to be continuing a 37-year partnership with San Diego County for its annual blood drive. The blood drive takes place throughout the month of April and has become one of our largest events of the year with over 20 blood drives taking place throughout San Diego (see below for more information).
SDBB is excited to announce the County of San Diego has also shown its support through the recent funding of a new Trima Accel® automated blood collection system (shown above with blood donor), which separates whole blood into platelets, plasma, and red blood cells through a process called apheresis. The Board of Supervisors approved the $36,000 grant during their March board meeting. SDBB is extremely thankful to the County of San Diego for their partnership.
Financial gifts from individuals and organizations throughout the county support blood donations that save lives every day. SDBB’s monthly giving program, the Visionary Circle is a convenient and affordable way to provide steady funding for our lifesaving services. Together, we have saved lives for over 70 years. Help us save lives for 70 more by joining today.
Thank you for helping to fuel San Diego Blood Bank’s mission to ensure that patients in need have access to a robust and safe blood supply. Your support truly impacts life!
With gratitude,
David Wellis, Ph.D.
Chief Executive Officer
Sherry Serio
Vice President of Development
Special Thanks
We are excited to announce that San Diego Blood Bank received a $225,000 grant from The Conrad Prebys Foundation. We are honored to be one of 114 organizations supported by The Conrad Prebys Foundation inaugural grant cycle! These funds will support SDBB’s Campaign for Life to complete funding for two new bloodmobiles – impacting up to 630,000 lives!
Each person saved by a blood donation on these bloodmobiles has a future made possible by The Conrad Prebys Foundation. Their partnership and investment ensure that patients in need have access to a robust and safe blood supply for blood recipients to live healthy and meaningful lives.
“The past year has underscored the importance of supporting the critical health care systems within our community,” said Erin Decker, director of grantmaking at The Conrad Prebys Foundation. The foundation is honored to have a role in ensuring these vital institutions have the resources and tools they need to provide care to individuals across the San Diego region.”
About The Conrad Prebys Foundation
The Conrad Prebys Foundation was established by real estate entrepreneur Conrad Prebys to perpetuate his commitment to philanthropic endeavors. The Conrad Prebys Foundation inspires transformational change by funding projects in alignment with Conrad Prebys’ legacy interests and continuing his efforts that spark meaningful advancement in our communities. For more information, visit www.ConradPrebysFoundation.org
37th ANNUAL SAN DIEGO COUNTY BLOOD DRIVE
The County of San Diego is hosting its 37th annual blood drive and marrow registry this April. This month-long effort by the County encourages County employees and the public to donate blood at one of their multiple sites throughout San Diego County. Over the years, the County Blood Drive has become one of San Diego Blood Bank’s largest and most successful collection events.
Click HERE to find a convenient location to donate and thank you for saving lives!
blood donor spotlight: Al and John
Al and John at Al’s 100-gallon donation celebration
Al and John are friends, neighbors and big supporters of San Diego Blood Bank!
Al donates platelets on a regular basis and has been donating blood since the early 1980’s when his friend’s child needed blood for a heart surgery. According to John, Al is a great guy and family man and has been donating blood products for 38 years.
Last week, Al donated his 100th gallon of blood at the South Bay Donor Center and Chula Vista Mayor Mary Casillas Salas stopped by to congratulate him. There are only 35 other donors in San Diego Blood Bank’s database who have reached the 100-gallon milestone mark!
John also celebrated his 90-gallon blood donation milestone last week and when asked about how his long-time donations to SDBB began he said:
“When I started donating whole blood in June 2001, I wanted to reach the 1 Gallon level. Transitioning from whole blood to apheresis donations in late 2004, my next day goal was to reach 10 Gallons and receive the 10 Gallon hat which I gave away to my nephew. As an apheresis donor donating platelets, plasma, or red cells, the gallon totals come a little faster because you can donate specific products more frequently and in larger quantities.
As a result of becoming an apheresis donor, I started to credit my donations. First to health organizations like Naval Medical Center - San Diego, Kaiser Hospital, and Children’s Hospital then to various patients regularly needing blood products from San Diego Blood Bank. I’ve been fortunate to meet a number of the Blood Bank’s Team Survivor members who help put such a wonderful face on just who benefits from voluntary blood product donation. This makes it much easier to continue the good habit of donating blood products at San Diego Blood Bank.”
SDBB is grateful to Al and John for their commitment to making lifesaving donations over the years!
meet team survivor
haero
Haero (pictured left) had an emergency blood transfusion after doctors found a blood clot in her leg. After her humbling experience, she became a regular blood donor.
In this video, she honors blood recipients whose lives were saved by people like you.
Thank you for connecting people like Haero to life!
Featured Funding Priority
Trima systems for new permanent donor center
in liberty station
To better serve the San Diego community, SDBB is opening a new permanent donor center in Point Loma at Liberty Station this year. The current, temporary location sees over 600 blood donors each month, impacting nearly 20,000 lives!
SDBB needs your support to fund critical resources for this center, such as blood bags, supplies, and new Trima Systems that collect and separate whole blood donations into plasma, platelets, and red blood cells. With the support of generous individuals and the County of San Diego, SDBB is able to purchase two new Trima systems, but we need three more!
Leadership Circle members (donors who give a financial gift of $1,000 or more each year) and Visionary Circle (monthly financial donors) will be recognized on a donor wall at the new center. Friends of SDBB (donors who give a financial gift of less than $1,000), will be recognized on a digital donor recognition TV screen. Donations can be made in honor of a patient, relative or friend.
Build your philanthropic legacy by motivating others to support and further our reach in the community. Your financial gift will help get us up and running so we can continue to save thousands of local lives.
In addition to individual giving opportunities, there are also corporate sponsor and naming opportunities available in connection with the new Liberty Station location. Please contact Sherry Serio, Vice President of Development at sserio@sandiegobloodbank.org or 619-400-8188.
sdbb and precision medicine
The All of Us Research Program supported by the National Institutes of Health, is a historic effort to gather data from one million or more people living in the United States to accelerate research and improve health. By considering individual differences in lifestyle, environment and biology, researchers will uncover paths toward delivering precision medicine.
SDBB partners with Scripps Research Translational Institute and UC San Diego to enroll participants in the local San Diego area and through blood banks across the country. CEO David Wellis is a primary investigator for the study and on the executive committee for the program.
All of Us is more than just a medical research program, it’s the promise of positive change for generations to come. Understanding your family health history could help you and researchers improve health for all of us.
Learn more and sign up for All of Us HERE.
Join SDBB’s Visionary Circle
monthly giving program!
Lee donating platelets at SDBB’s temporary Liberty Station center.
We are excited to welcome over 10 new members to the Visionary Circle through our 70-in-70 initiative! SDBB’s Visionary Circle is an exclusive membership program where participants commit to a monthly financial gift of any amount. Each monthly financial gift helps to fund SDBB’s greatest needs throughout the year, and right now we are focusing our efforts on the permanent donor station opening up in Liberty Station. Your support as a Visionary Circle member will help fund the technology, supplies, and equipment needed to ensure the new center is fully operational and serving the community.
Connect to life through the Visionary Circle!
One monthly gift of $10.00 (35¢ per day), funds one blood bag to collect one blood donation - saving up to 3 lives. There is no financial gift that is too small! Each one helps ensure the steady supply of vital blood products and services, and we can’t do it without you! Financial donors impact every aspect of SDBB’s mission, from funding critical resources for blood transfusions, to advancing research, your monthly financial donation helps to sustain SDBB’s mission every day.
For more information about the Visionary Circle and the impact monthly giving makes to providing lifesaving services to the community, please contact Lauren Torres, Development Manager, at ltorres@sandiegobloodbank.org or 619-400-8185.
featured sponsor
We are thankful to the PEERS Network for their $10,000 gift that supported the purchase of a new Trima Accel® automated blood collection system
PEERS is a nonprofit whose members aim to give back to the San Diego community. PEERS members provide peer to peer mentoring, fund local non profits, and educate non profit leaders on business skills necessary to thrive.
For more information, visit www.peersnetwork.org.
national volunteer week is april 18-24
San Diego Blood Bank recognizes National Volunteer Week 2021 (April 18-24) which brings awareness to the contributions of volunteers and encourages others to donate their time to worthy causes. National volunteer week began in 1974 and is organized and promoted by Points of Light at www.pointsoflight.org.
All year long SDBB relies on the generosity of volunteers to help us coordinate donors at mobile drives, attend to donors in our canteens, assist us at special events and provide support wherever needed.
We could not do what we do without volunteers and thank them for their time and talents!
For information about volunteering at San Diego Blood Bank, visit www.sandiegobloodbank.org/volunteers.
Health and Wellness
Photo: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
As communities across the United States continue to fight the spread of COVID-19 and the variants, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provide health tips and ways to slow the spread. To learn more, click HERE
SDBB News
San diego blood bank voted best new member by san diego east county chamber of commerce
SDBB is honored to accept the award for Best New Member at the San Diego East County Chamber of Commerce awards gala 2021. The San Diego East County Chamber of Commerce is the premier business advocacy organization in East San Diego.
We are grateful for all those who voted for San Diego Blood Bank!
Shop. Donate. Save lives!
While shopping for gifts or everyday essentials, you can also support the San Diego Blood Bank! Here are a few sites you can use to find those perfect gifts while donating to SDBB to support our life-saving efforts.
Visit smile.amazon.com and sign in with your Amazon.com credentials. Choose SDBB as the charitable organization to receive donation and start shopping! AmazonSmile can be activated in the Amazon Shopping app for iOS and Android phones.
Register and choose San Diego Blood Bank as your charity of choice. Then use their search engine to find what you’re looking for and click through to a retailer's site to make your purchase, part of which will go to SDBB.
iGive: This works almost the same way, but you use a button on various retailers' websites. Go through the iGive.com easy registration process and choose The San Diego Blood Bank Foundation. Your favorite retailers will start supporting SDBB.
Ways to Make a Financial Gift
MONTHLY GIVING — Join our Visionary Circle by making a monthly gift to help sustain SDBB for the next 70 years. Monthly gifts fund SDBB’s annual greatest need.
GIFTS OF STOCK — Did you know San Diego Blood Bank Foundation accepts appreciated gifts of stock with tax benefits for the donor? For more information on how to donate your stock, please contact Sherry Serio, Vice President of Development, at 619-400-8188 or sserio@sdbb.org.
MATCHING GIFTS — Ask your employer if your company has an employee matching program. Double your impact and encourage corporate giving to local nonprofits like SDBB.
COMMUNITY AND DIY FUNDRAISING — Partner with SDBB and fundraise with your company or team or for your birthday with a Facebook fundraiser! Contact Lauren Torres, Development Manager, at ltorres@sdbb.org.
CHANGEUP — Sign up on changeupforcharity.com, choose San Diego Blood Bank and Changeup will round up your purchases and donate the spare change to SDBB.
To learn more about the many ways in which SDBB’s lifesaving work has impacted the health of our community, see our 2019/2020 Impact Report.
HELPFUL LINKS
SUBSCRIBE
Don’t miss out on special events, philanthropy updates, news, announcements and more by joining the Foundation’s mailing list.AMAZON SMILE
Set San Diego Blood Bank as your charity on Amazon.Smile and Amazon gives when you shop!FINANCIAL INFORMATION
View our Tax ID or important financial information.CONTACT FOUNDATION
Send us a note with any questions about SDBB Foundation, ways to make a gift, or how to get involved.
THANK YOU TO OUR TOP SPONSORS
NEWSLETTER ARCHIVE
In partnership with our community, San Diego Blood Bank Foundation is the fundraising entity that supports critical resources for blood donations, advances San Diego Blood Bank’s critical healthcare role, and fuels collaboration with cutting-edge research and clinical organizations to advance cell therapy and precision medicine.
