California Rubber

California’s and Nevada’s Authoritative Voice of Ice and Inline Hockey

‘Bleed by example’ is key message behind Give Blood Play Hockey inline event

 

The 12th annual Give Blood Play Hockey inline hockey charity tournament is set to roll out Oct. 18-21 at The Rinks-Irvine Inline.

The event celebrated its 11th anniversary last year by raising $165,018 and collecting 495 pints of blood.

Those numbers hiked the organization’s total charitable donation to $916,500.68 and 3,068 pints since the tournament’s inception in 2007.

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Give Blood Play Hockey organizers are expecting to surpass the $1 million mark this year in donations to Children’s Hospital of Orange County, the organization’s primary beneficiary.

It’s been a labor of love and the fight to eradicate pediatric cancer is not over.

Tournament co-founder Mary Quayle, who started the GBPH event as a community service project while still in high school as a way to help “pay forward” blood used during her grandfather’s battle against cancer, stressed the need for blood donations year-round, not just during the tournament weekend.

Participating teams can now receive free registration for the upcoming event through a new promotion: Host A Drive. Teams can host a blood drive and if they collect 40 or more pints the $550 registration fee is waived.

Teams can contact the LifeStream Blood Bank (Lstream.org) for information on how to set up a blood drive.

LifeStream’s regional development coordinator Tony Holder noted some sobering figures: Every two seconds someone needs blood, and 25 percent of the population will require a blood transfusion once in their lifetime.

In fact, all patients at CHOC undergoing cancer or leukemia treatment require blood products.

One third of the U.S. population can donate blood but only five percent do, Holder noted.

“Thirty percent of our blood supply comes from high schools and from June through August, we lose that supply,” Holder said. “Emergencies and surgeries do not take the summer off, so we need extra community support during this time frame.”

For information or to register for the event, visit the website at www.givebloodplayhockey.org. GiveBlood PlayHockey is also on Facebook.

— Phillip Brents

(Aug. 31, 2018)

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