Record Amount Of Donations Taken In At Ray Crothers Blood Drive

MANCHESTER, CT — The Manchester Road Race Committee and the American Red Cross of Connecticut teamed up to hold another successful blood drive Friday.

A total of 376 units of blood were donated during the day-long Ray Crothers Blood Drive at Manchester High School. That’s a record for pints collected at the MRR event, surpassing the prior standard of 372 units that were donated last year.

The road race committee has been partnering with the Red Cross to stage the blood drive each year since 1986, and a total of 8,634 pints of blood have been collected since then.

The event is staged annually on the Friday after the Thanksgiving Day Manchester Road Race is run, and is named after Ray Crothers, a long-time participant and former MRR champion who died from cancer in 2008.

"We are extremely thankful for the large turnout and the exceptional generosity of everyone who donated," said Lance P. Morgan, a physician assistant and MRR executive committee member who coordinated the effort. "Their efforts, and those of the Red Cross, the financial sponsors, and our other benefactors, will help to save many lives."

Morgan noted that the 376 pints of blood collected Friday will benefit 1,128 patients in Connecticut who need transfusions of blood, plasma and platelets.