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The Church of Scientology of Twin Cities Minnesota did something new with their blood drive this year. Not only did they give back to the community in the form of vitally needed blood donations, they also used it to reach out to teens on the subject of drug abuse, for a drug-free Minneapolis and St. Paul.
The Church wanted to help the community with life-saving blood that makes all the difference in treating many diseases, performing surgeries and making recovery possible for patients whose lives depend on transfusions.
"We do blood drives because it's a service the community really needs," said Brian Fesler, Public Affairs Director for the Church of Scientology of Twin Cities.
Approximately every three seconds someone in the United States needs blood. Approximately 38,000 units of blood are used each day in the United States (one unit is about the equivalent of one pint). A heart surgery uses from 5 to 50 units of blood. A trauma victim may need as many as 100 units of blood. So the need is great.
But the Church had the idea of making this blood drive even more valuable. It would be a perfect place to hand out drug education literature to help keep kids off drugs.
Encouraged by news released by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) that overall illicit drug use among teens has declined by 23 percent since 2001, the Church has stepped up its anti-drug volunteer activities. "If it can go down by 23% why not get it all the way down to 0?" said one of the volunteers.
4 million lives are saved each year thanks to blood transfusions. And millions more can be saved or bettered by helping kids decide to live drug-free lives. So a drug-free blood drive seemed to be the perfect combination.
For more information about the The Church of Scientology of Twin Cities Minnesota visit their web site at www.scientology-minneaopolis.orgor call (612-338-5111), email twincities@scientology.net, or visit them at 1011 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis, MN 55403.
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