2 for 2 Community Campaign launches to fund new freezers
SAN BERNARDINO – LifeStream Blood Bank, which also serves as a blood bank for mobile LifeStream blood drives and services in Imperial County, is renovating its San Bernardino laboratory this year.
According to a press release, one of this capital project’s major components is the replacement of 20-year-old walk-in laboratory freezers.
These two custom-built freezers are crucial to LifeStream’s mission of collecting, processing and storing blood products that save lives. Without these freezers, which cost approximately $150,000 each, LifeStream would not be able to deliver lifesaving blood products to local hospitals, the release reads.
To raise funds for the project, LifeStream is asking dedicated blood donors, the public, small businesses and corporate partners to support LifeStream’s 2 for 2 Community Campaign from February through April 2023. Suggested donations range from $2 for individuals to $2,500 for businesses, according to the release.
LifeStream has set a $100,000 fundraising goal for this campaign to cover a portion of the costs of building the two new freezers, the release states.
“Our laboratory freezers must maintain temperatures of minus 20 degrees Celsius while staff enter and leave multiple times a day,” said Dr. Rick Axelrod, LifeStream’s president/CEO & medical director. “The two freezers currently in use are over 20 years old and are dangerously close to the end of their lifespan. To meet California Air Resources Board guidelines, the new environmentally friendly freezers we are building cannot use a Freon-based cooling system.”
According to the release, the freezers are essential to blood component processing. Each unit of whole blood can be broken down into multiple components, and each component is used to treat specific patients. Many blood components need to be stored at specific temperatures. For example, plasma must be frozen within 24 hours of collection. This is one of many products LifeStream produces to meet the needs of local patients, the release reads.
To make a secure online donation, visit www. lstream.org/freezers. If supporters would prefer to send a check, it may be mailed to LifeStream’s 2 for 2 Campaign, 384 W. Orange Show Road, San Bernardino, CA 92408, or deposited in a collection box at one of its nine donor centers.