Memorial Blood Centers Again Joins with Second Harvest Heartland to Help Save Lives and Fight Hunger

ST. PAUL, Minn., Dec. 13, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- For the second time this year, thousands of generous blood donors rolled up their sleeves to fight hunger while saving lives, participating in Memorial Blood Centers' Pint for a Pound promotion. In partnership with Second Harvest Heartland, this annual program makes it easier than ever to restock the life-saving blood supplies at local hospitals while helping to fill area food shelves.

For each unit of blood donated during the most recent November 2011 Pint for a Pound campaign, Memorial Blood Centers donated one pound of food to Second Harvest—enough food to feed over 50,000 people in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Combined with results from an earlier promotion that ran throughout the month of August, Memorial Blood Centers' 2011 donations to Second Harvest total nearly 24,000 pounds of food.

"Throughout this four-year partnership with Second Harvest Heartland, our generous volunteer blood donors have consistently responded to the need," Wendy Capetz, Director of Marketing and Development at Memorial Blood Centers said. "They stepped up to save as many as tens of thousands of lives through blood donation and also helped supply area food shelves with over 82,000 pounds of food to help fight hunger."

"This year Memorial Blood Centers was especially gratified to be able to host two separate campaigns to help out those in need: one in August when there is increased demand at Second Harvest food shelves and again in November when the need for food donations often reaches its peak during the winter holidays."

About Memorial Blood Centers
Memorial Blood Centers has been saving lives for over 60 years as an independent nonprofit supplying lifesaving blood to area hospitals and other partners throughout the U.S. Operating 11 donor centers and conducting hundreds of blood drives each month, Memorial Blood Centers also provides comprehensive testing and expert technical services as a national leader in transfusion medicine. For more information, call 888-GIVEBLD or visit www.MBC.org.

About Second Harvest Heartland
The Upper Midwest's largest hunger-relief organization with a mission of ending hunger through community partnerships, Second Harvest Heartland distributes nearly 50 million pounds of food and grocery products annually to 1,000 member agencies and programs in Minnesota and western Wisconsin. For more information, visit www.2harvest.org.

SOURCE Memorial Blood Centers