BROOKINGS (9-14-26) — The Brookings Fire Department wins the annual local Heroes Behind the Badges Blood Drive — a friendly competition between the local fire and police departments to see who can solicit more donations for the Community Blood Bank.
Troy Hughes is Brookings Fire Chief… “It’s really not about winning. The people that win are the people that need the blood, so we’re glad whether your support police or fire. We would d be even happier if there were 300 more people that did police and provided the blood for the cause — even if we had to lose to get those other 300 people out — we’d still be happy about it.”
Ken Versteeg is Executive Director at the Community Blood Bank. He said this particular blood drive competition has grown tremendously over the years… “I think we probably (used to) collect around 25 to 30 units of blood, and now we’re collecting 70 to 80 units donations and there’ve been sometimes where we’ve come to close to 100. So it’s grown through the years, and definitely the interest has grown too. We’re grateful for both departments for participating in this and making this even possible.”
He said it’s a win-win for police, firefighters and local hospitals… “It takes both fire and police departments to make a safe community and provide a great community to live in; but it also takes both departments to make a fun competition between the two departments to ensure that we have blood available.”
The Brookings Fire Department also won the competition last year, so they’ll retain the traveling trophy — at least for another 365 days.
Learn more about the Community Blood Bank and opportunities to donate the gift of life at https://cbblifeblood.org/.
— Brookings Radio News
