Dozens of walk in donors showed up at Bonfils Blood Center Monday after learning about the deadly mass shooting in Las Vegas ready to give blood.
Bonfils Blood Center has seen around 400 people come into donate on any given Monday, but by the afternoon, several hours after the shooting, Bonfils was already approaching 500 donors.
Blood from Colorado has not been sent to Las Vegas– yet. Bonfils is part of a network of blood centers in 28 states. Additional donations from a center in Nevada were sent from the group to help victims in Las Vegas.
“We are already seeing a tremendous outpouring of support both here in Colorado and across the country,” said Liz Lambert, a Bonfils spokesperson. “People who just want to honor those affected by this tragedy.”
Blood donations take 48 hours to process, so it’s important to have a steady flow of volunteers at all times. Bonfils says donors should make an appointment to come in and donate so they have enough blooding coming into the center not just hours after the shooting but days and weeks later.
“Every two seconds in the U.S. somebody needs a blood transfusion and that’s just on a regular day,” Lambert added.
Donors that came in after learning about the shooting understood their blood may not leave the state but they’re still motivated to help out those in need.
There is no guarantee this is going to help someone in Las Vegas but people are people everywhere so if it will help somebody here, that’s cool,” said Dave Lucitt, another donor. “That’s great.”
Staff at Bonfils say by having a consistent set of donations, the blood they collect here can go wherever it needs to across town or around the nation. That kind of blood supply will be vital the next time a hospital or trauma center has several victims all at once.
“It is pretty scary, one of my cousins is a police officer in Las Vegas,” Barela said. “He’s okay thankfully, but he’s out there risking his life for us so it’s this is the least I can do.”
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