Battle of the Badges blood drive this Friday

Area first responders will compete for a good cause this Friday as they co-host the Battle of the Badges Blood Drive, to be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Pritchard Community Center in Elizabethtown.

“This year, Paul Davis has jumped on board to help co-sponsor the event,” said American Red Cross Account Manager Tammy Ritchie. “They will be there that day giving out some goodie bags. We have all kinds of things going on that day, Battle of the Badges t-shirts. Every donor that comes in will receive a $15 e-gift card and they’ll get to choose what place they’d like or what merchant.”

Battle of the Badges is a friendly competition between police, fire, and EMS. As you go in to register for the blood drive, you’ll vote for one of the three entities.

Ritchie says walk-ins will be accepted, but preregistering is easy.

“They can go online and sign up at RedCrossBlood.org,” Ritchie said. “They can put in the zip code, or they can put in BOBElizabethtown for Battle of the Badges Elizabethtown, and that will take you right to the schedule.”

Now is a good time to help the Red Cross stay prepared.

“We just really need the community support,” Ritchie said. “Summer will be here sooner than we think, and the need for blood always goes up during that time of year.”

Visit redcrossblood.org for more information.