Seventh Annual Indiana Fallen Officers Blood Drive Begins This Month

A blood drive aimed at keeping alive the memory of a Morgan County sheriff who lost his life in the line of duty is coming to the Kankakee Valley. In July 2001, Sgt. Dan Starnes of the Morgan County Sheriff’s Department was shot and killed in a gunfight while on duty, and his surviving spouse Janice organized the Sgt. Dan R. Starnes Memorial Blood Drive in her county later that year – an annual event that has since gone statewide.

The seventh annual Indiana Fallen Officers Blood Drive begins this month with donation sites in nearly every Hoosier county, among those Starke, Pulaski, and LaPorte counties.

In Starke County, a blood drive will be held at the Nancy J. Dembowski Community Center on East Lake Street in Knox on June 4, from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.

In Pulaski County, two blood drives will be held. The first will take place on June 11 at the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department on East Meridian Street in Winamac from 3 to 7 p.m. The second will be held on June 26 from 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the Knights of Columbus hall at 340 E. 50 N. in Winamac.

A blood drive will also be held in LaPorte on June 21 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the LaPorte County Annex Building at 809 State St.

Help save a life in Indiana by donating at one of these drives, doing your part to supply a portion of the 1000 units of blood needed daily in the state. Each unit of blood donated helps provide red blood cells, platelets, and plasma necessary to save a life.