Blood Bank of Delmarva (BBD) is celebrating its 60th Anniversary this year. The nonprofit organization was officially founded on August 16, 1954 by a group of community leaders led by James F. McCloskey, a prominent insurance executive in Wilmington.
“BBD has a proud history of 60 years of helping save local lives,” Roy Roper, CEO of BBD said. “We began with 5,000 charter members and now have more than 156,000 individual supporters and relationships with more than 1,900 businesses and organizations. We are pleased to provide blood to all 16 hospitals in the Delmarva region, ensuring that the 1.6 million residents in our community have blood when they need it.”
BBD held a 60th Anniversary Celebration on Thursday, April 3 at Dover Downs Hotel & Casino. The evening featured s relating their stories of how blood donations directly affected their lives. (See video) Speakers included Taylor Jones, 17, who shared how her brother’s illness motivates her to give blood, and Molly and Jonathan Waddell whose young son’s life was saved by platelet donors.
In addition, BBD will unveil a video and a book commemorating the 60th Anniversary. The video, “Celebrating 60 Years” gives highlights of BBD past and present. The book, “Giving Blood: Blood Bank of Delmarva’s First 60 Years,” was written by David Bonk who retired from BBD after 29 years of service.
“BBD is truly grateful to the thousands of dedicated donors, hundreds of staff members, hospital and community partners and contributors who have made our first 60 years a great success,” Roper said. “We look forward to 60 more years of service to our community.”
