An existing program at the Community Blood Center of the Ozarks has been revised to allow blood donors to help other non-profits in the Ozarks. KSMU’s Michele Skalicky has more about LifePoints Lift.
LifePoints was started at the CBCO about a year and a half ago to reward donors for giving blood.
"LifePoints is kind of like airline miles, you know, or frequent flier miles. You accrue LifePoints with each blood donation. You then go to our website at cbco.org, and you trade those LifePoints in," he said.
CBC spokesman Chris Pilgrim says blood donors can turn in points for things like t-shirts and gift cards. But the CBCO recently started giving their blood donors a chance to give back to their community in another way through what’s called LifePoints Lift. They can choose to donate their points to help one of ten non-profit agencies in the Ozarks. Every 1000 points is worth $1.50.
Bart Brown is executive director of Ozarks Food Harvest, which is on that list. He says the partnership is a win-win for both OFH and the CBCO.
"It's building philanthropy in different ways across the Ozarks, which we're really excited about that at Ozarks Food Harvest, because anytime you can leverage the strength of our partners, you wind up helping more people," he said.
For more information about LifePoints Lift click here.
