Vitalant<\/a> Senior Account Manager Stephanie Pointer said the drive has seen a slower start than usual.<\/p>\n\u201cIt\u2019s been a little bit harder for some reason this year, I think, with all blood drives,\u201d Pointer said. \u201cBut it seems like especially we haven\u2019t had the push at this one that we have in years past.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pointer said the drive was created 11 years ago to increase donations during a period of critical need. She said summer months consistently strain the blood supply.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of times in the summer months, we lose a lot of high school and college donors,\u201d Pointer said. \u201cPeople go on vacations and take time off. So that really impacts the blood supply. And then you top that with having a lot of traumas because people are out on motorcycles and boating, and then you still have to keep up with your cancer patients needing blood and all of those things.\u201d<\/p>\n
Type O donations are especially needed this year, according to Pointer.<\/p>\n
First responders make the case for donating<\/p>\n
Firefighter Zeth Hernandez said the need for donated blood is something he sees on the job.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo 70 percent of our calls are medical calls,\u201d Hernandez said. \u201cJust being able to come in here, give blood, because we might see a couple traumas a day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Deputy Alexis Brown said community service extends beyond emergency response.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s all interconnected,\u201d Brown said. \u201cSo taking the time when we have it to do events like this and show up is a part of the service as well as answering the 911 call. It kind of all goes hand in hand.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bragging rights on the line<\/p>\n
Despite the shared mission, the competition between law enforcement and fire remains a point of pride for both sides.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are the best in blue,\u201d Brown said. \u201cI know my brothers and sisters across all the agencies will be showing up and turning out as they can. So we\u2019re going to do what we need to do to win.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hernandez had a message for potential donors.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s all good fun, but we always want to beat them. So make sure if you come out and donate blood, tell them you\u2019re there to support fire, not PD.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pointer said donating takes 45 minutes or less and requires only a valid ID. The blood drive is at the South Plains Mall every day through Sunday, July 19 from noon to 6 p.m., near the Pretzelmaker. <\/p>\n
Donors can walk in or call ahead to make an appointment. Donors will receive a free t-shirt, two free movie tickets and two popcorn vouchers. Adults will also be entered to win a car.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 KCBD. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – Lubbock\u2019s blood bank is reporting supplies are at an extremely low level as the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":373501,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[13075,132162,132155,48369,21736,7990,10540,132159,11349,64392,24208,630,20369,168,170,169,2086,3175,132157,1733,28357,132160,69715,132158,132156,132161],"class_list":["post-373500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lubbock","tag-agency","tag-alexis-brown","tag-badges","tag-battle","tag-blood","tag-brittany-crittenden","tag-competition","tag-critical-need","tag-donation","tag-donor","tag-drive","tag-fire","tag-first","tag-lubbock","tag-lubbock-headlines","tag-lubbock-news","tag-police-department","tag-rescue","tag-responder","tag-sheriffs-office","tag-south-plains-mall","tag-stephanie-pointer","tag-turnout","tag-type-o","tag-vitalant","tag-zeth-hernandez"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=373500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373500\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/373501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=373500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=373500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=373500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}