By Charly SHELTON

On Wednesday, the Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station, in partnership with Huntington Hospital Blood Donor Center, held a blood drive. From 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. donors assembled in the parking lot of the CV Sheriff’s Station to make a donation in the Huntington Hospital mobile donation vehicle. As of 3 p.m., 13 donors had come to give blood, which was fewer than expected by organizer Jackie Baca-Geary, blood donor recruiter at Huntington Hospital.

“[It has been] a little slow,” said Baca-Geary. “But we’ve had some wonderful people. Everybody’s really nice and eager to donate.

“It’s a little slower, but I don’t know – it might be summer.”

Donations are historically lower in the summer for a variety of reasons; however, at the same time the need is higher due to more road accidents during the summer traveling months.

For those who did come to donate, it was a gratifying experience. Stuart Byles, founder of the Stonebarn Conservancy and member of the Historical Society of Crescenta Valley, was one of those who donated at the drive.

“[It is important to donate] for the future, should you be in the hospital,” said Byles, “and for my wife who doesn’t like needles. So I’m donating for both of us. But it’s just a good thing to do. So many people have so many problems blood-wise in this world today that if your blood is somewhat on the pure side, it just helps out in general. I think it’s an important thing to do. We can all do little things and this is one of them.”

For anyone who missed this opportunity to donate, the next Huntington Hospital donation drive will be at the Crescenta-Cañada YMCA on Aug. 11 from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., and the Huntington Hospital Blood Donation Center on-site at the hospital in Pasadena is open Monday through Friday. For more information, visit http://www.huntingtonhospital.com/MainBloodDonorCenter.aspx.

  Charly Shelton