On Wednesday, the idea of delivering public service from St. Louis Public Radio took a different twist with our semi-annual Blood Drive sponsored by the station with the American Red Cross.
For the thirteenth-consecutive year St. Louis Public Radio is stepping in to help save lives at a time when blood donations are typically very slow and the need is great. At ourJanuary 2012 blood drive, which took place Wednesday afternoon at The Heights in Richmond Heights, more than 90 listeners and friends of St. Louis Public Radio donated 82 units of blood to support the Red Cross.
We normally measure the public service we deliver by evaluating the impact we have in the community through audience estimates or visits to our web site. However, by using the power we have with the megaphone of a broadcast signal and reach of a web site we are able to leverage the interest of our listeners to give back to the community to encourage them to give blood to support those in need.
We take seriously our role in the community to inform, educate and entertain our listeners. Our public service mission also means that we are there for you with calm and reasoned information when it comes to weather emergencies such as tornado warnings and other information that may help save lives in the region.
We also take seriously the importance of being an institution that can make our region stronger. Our involvement with the Red Cross to help save lives aligns with our mission perfectly and we are proud to join with them in this important endeavor.
Special thanks to all of the folks at the Red Cross and the 92 listeners for making this Blood Drive a great success. We’ll be back at it in July to ask our listeners to save more lives by giving blood at our next drive–July 26th.
