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Blood drive at Annunciation Church rallies community
The Annunciation Church community held a blood drive on Black Friday to save lives this holiday season following the mass shooting in August. FOX 9's Corin Hoggard has more on how the victims were honored.
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - The Annunciation Church and School community is honoring the victims of the August mass shooting by donating blood to save lives.
Annunciation community heals
The backstory:
Annunciation Church will always carry the grief of a deadly day in August.
The glass doors shattered by gunfire are waiting for repairs and the sanctuary hasn’t reopened.
But some of the scars are starting to fade, or take a new form.
The memorial of flowers, candles and posters was recently removed after three months because of weather.
A new memorial is set to take its place this weekend to carry a message of advent, hope and healing.
Annunciation blood drive
What they're saying:
"Each day we're taking baby steps," said Jimmy Dunn, from Annunciation Church Outreach. "And collectively we're trying to figure out how we can all heal and we can all find a new sense of normalcy."
Jennifer Kaluza, a representative for Memorial Blood Centers, said, "They specifically chose Black Friday because we had shared with them that it was a time when donations typically dip and decrease."
"This is the first time I've donated blood," said Minneapolis resident Sarah Klein. "And it's easier than I expected."
More than 40 people signed up to give blood on Friday, including four members of the Klein family.
They tried to comfort members of their church on the tragic day and their support has stayed strong in the aftermath.
Three of the Kleins had never donated blood before, so they’re exactly who these bonus drives are hoping to reach as they find a beam of light leading out of dark times.
"We believe because of the focus that we've been given, that we can make some good happen." Jimmy Dunn said.
By the numbers:
The church typically hosts Memorial’s bloodmobile four times a year, but they’ve increased the frequency since the shooting.
Memorial donated about 250 units of blood that day.
They’re down to a four-day supply now, instead of the usual seven, and Annunciation is hoping to fill the gap and give back what their members and students needed.
What's next:
They’re still short of that 250-unit goal, but there’s one more blood drive scheduled for Dec. 15.
The Source: This story uses information from interviews gathered by Corin Hoggard and previous FOX 9 reporting.