The 10th annual Brenda Riggins Memorial Christmas in July Blood Drive will be held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, July 13, in the Bassett High School Auditorium.
Event founder Teddy Martin II, said that although Riggins was his aunt, all his brothers and sisters knew her as ‘granny.’
“She even listed us as her grandchildren in her obituary. She beat cancer once, and it returned. The very first thing that she said and thought when she was diagnosed was that she was not able to give blood anymore,” he said.
At the time, Martin said he had never given blood before or thought too much of doing so.
“Seeing how much it meant to her and how much she meant to me and my family and everything else, and how selfless he was, I told her, ‘You might not be able to, but I can.’ So, I gave blood,” he said.
Martin noted that him giving blood was actually on Riggins’ bucket list.
While he joked, and “pointed out you can’t make me when I said I was going to,” Martin said he donated “and I kind of compared here’s my donation versus her 16 gallons,” and discovered “it’s like to carry this on, I’m going to need some help.”
Martin said he thought having a drive in her memory was a good idea, and one that the community rallied behind. The drives started at the beginning of 2015.
“We’ve been carrying them on ever since,” he said.
As Riggins “knew she wasn’t going to make it to December,” and loved Christmas, Martin said two drives are held each year – one as a Christmas in July and one in December.
“We tend to do some Christmas decorations at each drive, because of the theme. Also, some of her Red Cross memorabilia that she gathered, her pins, her apron, and all kinds of little things from her many years of donating,” he said.
Martin said Riggins gave blood almost every time she could throughout her entire life.
“I’ve been giving now for a decade, and I’m only up to four gallons,” he said.
Across all the drives and people pledging to donate in Riggins’ memory, Martin estimates there have been 960 donations.
“Our best day ever was 65. We average in that upper 40-50 number. Ironically, we actually did better in COVID,” he said with a laugh. “I think part of it was the Red Cross was doing that whole like, ‘we’ll test your blood for antibodies and people were like, ‘I want to know if I have COVID.’”
There are currently 50 pledged donations for the Christmas in July drive.
Martin said the community’s response to the blood drive has been really inspiring.
“I think it kind of reflects the selflessness and caring of Brenda. I think some people have told me it’s hard to say no to that story, which I remind them that people can say no to me all the time,” he said, chuckling.
The event was first hosted at Hope Presbyterian Church, which Martin said helped get the blood drive started. It also was held at Patrick & Henry Community College (P&HCC) and Stanleytown Elementary School.
“I have to thank Henry County Schools because when the pandemic happened and everybody else was shutting the doors on having these drives, Dr. Strayer (then superintendent) let us in,” he said.
Walk-ins are welcome, but appointments will have priority.
Schedule appointments by contacting the American Red Cross at 1-800-RED-CROSS (1-800-733-2767) or online at www.redcrossblood.org by using the sponsor code: Brenda. People can also schedule an appointment by using the Red Cross Donor App.
