There’s a blood drive today (Saturday, January 13), from 10:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., in the Senior Center at 546 Main Street.

The Roosevelt Island Residents Association (RIRA), in collaboration with Roosevelt Island CERT (Community Emergency Response Team), is hosting the drive, at which over 60 Roosevelt Island residents are expected to donate blood.

At a time when the New York Blood Center’s supply is reaching emergency lows, the expected 40 to 60 pints of blood from Island donors will be a greatly needed contribution to the City’s supply. "This is a great success at a time when we are running a major deficit of blood," said Matthew Katz, President of RIRA and organizer of current and past blood drives on the Island. Katz also mentioned that the New York Blood Center (NYBC) is sending more staff to the Island this year because of high donor turnout on Roosevelt Island at previous drives.

The Residents Association has been hosting blood drives on Roosevelt Island twice a year since January, 2002, when RIRA, in collaboration with the Icla DaSilva foundation, collected a total of 67 pints, a relatively high figure in comparison to other local blood drives.

NYBC, the New York region’s primary blood bank, is reported to consistently have one of the lowest reserves of blood in the country, and, according to NYBC representative Rich Miller-Murphy, January and February are the months in which people are least likely to give blood.

This year, however, blood donations are the lowest that they’ve been in five years. "This particular January, with both Christmas and New Year’s Day falling on a Monday, people took longer vacations," Miller-Murphy said. "So even the blood drives that were scheduled had a much lower turnout."

What makes Roosevelt Island unique in blood donation is its demographic structure. Under NYBC regulations, the elderly, the disabled, and those who have lived outside of the country for a significant period of time – all groups that make up a substantial percentage of the Roosevelt Island population – are potentially ineligible donors. "The demographics on the Island are brutal," said Matthew Katz.

RIRA has been advertising today’s drive for the past month, and has had a booth every Saturday at the Farmer’s Market, where donors could pledge. Among today’s pledged donors is State Senator Jose Serrano.

Katz had praise for the community’s strong turnout: "This is a community more like some small town in North America than in impersonal New York City," said Katz. "This is what we do."