KENNEY — Firefighters are known for helping others.
The volunteer fire crew stationed at the small village of Kenney in DeWitt County continue their service by hosting a blood drive every Good Friday.
“When you talk about servants, that’s what they do,” said Dani Craft, territory manager for ImpactLife.
ImpactLife partners with other agencies to supply blood to local hospitals.
Harold Drake, 76, a Beason resident, has donated blood several times during the past 50 years. However, Friday’s donation was his first at Kenney. He often visits the neighboring town of Atlanta to give blood.
Kenney firefighter/chaplain Scott Marsh gives blood on Friday during the Kenney Fire Department Blood Drive. “What better way to celebrate Good Friday than to donate blood?” Marsh said. Collection specialist Isaiah Hudson was helping Marsh give blood. Donors can schedule appointments at ImpactLife donation centers or mobile blood drives by calling 800-747-5401, or online at www.bloodcenter.org.
“I’ve given over a hundred times,” he said.
Drake learned about Friday’s blood drive from a Kenney firefighter. The process of giving blood can be a pleasant experience, Drake said. “You meet the nicest people,” he said.
Fritz Robinson, 71, retired chief for the Kenney Fire Department, organized the first blood drive on Good Friday seven years ago.
“We were hoping to get a whopping 25,” he said. “Now we’re pushing 160 units.”
“This is the most successful one yet,” Craft said.
More than 150 donors were expected to give blood on Friday during the Kenney Fire Department Blood Drive.
Fritz Robinson’s son Brian Robinson is a regular blood donor. As a Kenney firefighter and assistant chief, Brian Robinson has been donating blood for the local drive since the first one.
“And I try to hit a couple others when I can,” he said.
Kenney’s blood drive is popular among blood donors throughout the area, not just the village of slightly more than 300.
“We have guys from neighboring fire departments,” Fritz Robinson said. “We have first-time donors and we have four generations of a family coming in to donate.”
More than 150 donors were expected to give blood on Friday during the Kenney Fire Department Blood Drive.
Kenney’s fire crew does most of the advertising for the blood drive.
“We push this very hard,” Fritz Robinson said. “We’re all kind of social.”
“The gift of gab,” said firefighter Kerry Coles. “But this is nothing. It doesn’t cost you a dime. You sit down in a chair, you roll your sleeve up, and you give life’s blood to help three people.”
The volunteer fire department includes crews from various occupations, such as farmers, truck drivers and factory employees.
Collection specialist Stevie Seitz, left, helps Loretta Woodbury donate blood on Friday during the Kenney Fire Department Blood Drive. Woodbury is from Kenney and her husband is with the fire department.
“We mesh together well. That helps when everybody notices that,” Fritz Robinson said. “We’re so fortunate that our community likes us.”
Impact Life partnered with the local fire department at a crucial time, Craft said.
“With the disasters that have happened recently with the weather, a lot of blood centers and blood drives have not been able to stay on their regular schedule,” she said. “And with Easter coming, the holidays take people away from their regular schedule.”
ImpactLife talks about support from Kenney Blood Drive
According to Craft, Kenney’s community blood drive is one of the biggest in ImpactLife’s four-state region, which includes Illinois, Missouri, Iowa and Wisconsin.
“This partnership is so valuable to us,” Craft said. “They do it from the heart.”
Brian Robinson said he didn’t need his father to talk him into donating blood.
“He can strong arm me into a lot of things, but he couldn’t do this one,” Brian Robinson said. “The Good Friday aspect of it, with Jesus’ blood for our sins, now we’re giving blood to save lives as well.”
Today in history: April 7
1922: Albert B. Fall
In 1922, the Teapot Dome scandal had its beginnings as Interior Secretary Albert B. Fall signed a secret deal to lease U.S. Navy petroleum reserves in Wyoming and California to his friends, oilmen Harry F. Sinclair and Edward L. Doheny, in exchange for cash gifts.
1949: “South Pacific”
In 1949, the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical “South Pacific” opened on Broadway.
1954: Dwight D. Eisenhower
In 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower held a news conference in which he spoke of the importance of containing the spread of communism in Indochina, saying, “You have a row of dominoes set up, you knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is the certainty that it will go over very quickly.”
1962: Bay of Pigs
In 1962, nearly 1,200 Cuban exiles tried by Cuba for their roles in the failed Bay of Pigs invasion were convicted of treason.
1984: Census Bureau
On April 7, 1984, the Census Bureau reported Los Angeles had overtaken Chicago as the nation’s “second city” in terms of population.
2012: Mike Wallace
CBS newsman Mike Wallace, 93, died in New Canaan, Connecticut.
2017: Gov. Jerry Brown
Gov. Jerry Brown declared an end to California’s historic drought emergency imposed in 2014.
2020: Thomas Modly
In 2020, acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly resigned after lambasting the officer he’d fired as the captain of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, which had been stricken by a coronavirus outbreak; James McPherson was appointed as acting Navy secretary.
2021: Anne Beatts
Anne Beatts, a groundbreaking comedy writer who was on the original staff of “Saturday Night Live,” died at her California home at 74.
2021: Phillip Adams
Former NFL player Phillip Adams fatally shot six people in Rock Hill, South Carolina, including a prominent doctor, his wife and their two grandchildren, before killing himself.
2021: Tiger Woods
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said investigators found that golfer Tiger Woods had been driving at more than 80 miles an hour – nearly twice the posted speed limit – when he lost control of an SUV in February; the wreck left Woods seriously injured.
APTOPIX Supreme Court Nomination
Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is sworn in for her confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee Monday, March 21, 2022, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)