A Record-Setting Blood Drive — 138 Units, 414 Lives Across Maine

Last week set a record. Across Quirk Auto Group's Maine locations, 138 units of blood were collected by the Red Cross during the annual drive held in memory of Michael G. Quirk — enough to positively affect 414 lives here in Maine.

The totals: Augusta, 27 units and 81 lives. Portland, 27 units and 81 lives. Bangor, 49 units and 147 lives. Belfast, 35 units and 105 lives.

The timing mattered. COVID outbreaks, forest fires and floods had forced thousands of blood drives to cancel across the country, and the supply was thin. Blood cannot be manufactured or stockpiled indefinitely. It comes from someone rolling up a sleeve.

The units collected that week will help people who will never know where they came from — victims of car accidents, mothers with at-risk pregnancies, babies born prematurely, patients in the middle of cancer treatment. Thank you to every employee, family member, customer, friend and neighbor who showed up and gave.