A stalwart member of the Washington-area community who passed away earlier this year is the namesake for a blood drive happening in the next week.

The Optimist Club of Washington is sponsoring the Yale Jarvis Memorial Blood Drive with Impact Life. Optimist Club Blood Drive Coordinator Don Pfeiffer says they have named this drive in Jarvis’ honor as he was an avid donor who donated over 20 gallons of blood in his lifetime. His efforts to help maintain the region’s blood supply didn’t stop when he was diagnosed with Leukemia, as Pfeiffer says he also helped coordinate drives and would transport the pints collected halfway through a drive event to places like Rock Island, Illinois, “He was on-call then after he retired he would help if someone wanted blood at some hospital, Des Moines or somewhere else. If they didn’t have someone to send them, then Yale would go over and pick up that blood and take it. Sometimes he would take it to, say, Iowa City, and someone would move it from there.”

Pfeiffer’s goal is to collect 110 pints of blood at this event, and he urges residents to contact him to schedule an appointment before showing up to avoid any congestion. Donors can also choose to receive either a retro Impact Life t-shirt or a gift card. The drive takes place from 1:30-6:30 p.m. Thursday, October 7th at the Washington Knights of Columbus Hall.