42 Life-Saving Pints Collected in Sayville FD Blood Drive

The Sayville Fire Department held its annual Wilbur Ritter blood drive this past Monday, and42 pints were collected from residents and firefighters, including firefighter Harley Muldoon who is shown donating blood for the first time.

Ritter served as chairman of the blood drive for about 20 years. He perished in the line of duty after responding to an alarm on Main Street on August 28, 2006. Ritter donated 16 gallons of blood during his lifetime. He was so passionate about blood donation that as the ambulance doors were closing to take him to the hospital, his last words to his fellow firefighters were “make sure you get the blood drive signs up.”  

Sayville Fire Department Blood Drive Co-Chair Wendy Liu believes that after a person donates blood once, they will see that it's a great experience and will want to save more lives by becoming regular donors. Donors who donated one gallon or more during their lifetime are given "gallon" pins (8 pints in a gallon). The highest gallon pin given out was for six gallons.

Most donors at the recent blood drive had donated blood before.  Co-Chair Pam Ward received her first gallon pin and gave her 11th pint at this blood drive.   Each donor received a door prize ticket and the winner received a home safety kit that included a fire extinguisher, first-aid kit, fire safe and combination smoke/CO detector.