Greetings, Crew!
It's been a pretty big week for our group, between the blood drive and the movie night!
On Saturday, we had the 20th Annual CONvergence Blood Drive at the DoubleTree Bloomington. It was held in the big conference room that used to house the Art Show, so there was a ton of room. We had 66 donors signed up before the day began, and almost all of them showed up. In the end, we collected a total of 57 pints, which is enough to touch up to 171 lives! This is actually the highest number we've ever had (beating our previous record of 55 from 2018), even though we've had more signups in the past. Since there was no convention, there were no donors that found a last-minute panel or other attraction to attend. Several people mentioned that they specifically wanted the highly coveted Blood Donor Badge Ribbon, so we definitely attracted some con regulars! It was great to be in the room with the drive, instead of having it on the bloodmobile where we can't see the action. Many thanks to Jane for recruiting and to Roxanne, Jenna and Diana for volunteering all day. Special thanks to Diana and Jack, who put their arms out to donate life-saving blood!
Also on Saturday was our annual backyard movie night, and it was really fun! The event is tailor-made for physical distancing, since everyone is spread out to watch the show, so it felt just like normal. Masks were worn when using the bathroom or getting food in the buffet line, of course, but this was but a trifle of inconvenience. Thanks to Emma for catering the event with delicious Jersey Mike's subs and chips. We also had assorted baked goods from my kitchen. A few members paid their fee and were unable to attend, so after all was said and done we raised over $100 for the club's coffers. I call that a win-win scenario!
I hope everyone is well. Take care, and see you around the Galaxy!
Mary
