May 2026 - ImpactLife

Gift of Hope

Suzie Sturm looked up at every bag of blood and simply said thank you.

After years of unexplained symptoms and a diagnosis of liver failure, Suzie received 140 units of blood during her treatment before receiving a liver transplant in 2016. What happened after is a story she tells better than we ever could.

We will let her take it from here

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Group of people smiling holding trophy as winners of QC battle for blood

Battle for Blood

One donor. That is all that separated first place from second in the first ever QC Battle for Blood High School Challenge.

After a month of friendly competition across three Quad Cities high schools, United Township High School came out on top with 63 points, edging out Moline High School at 62 and Rock Island High School at 58. The trophy and year-long bragging rights belong to the Panthers.

But here is the thing about a competition this close: everybody won. Every donation collected across all three schools means a patient somewhere got the blood they needed. That is what this was always about.

Congratulations to United Township, and a huge thank you to Moline and Rock Island for making the first QC Battle for Blood one worth remembering.

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Donate Life

April is Donate Life Month, and we made sure to show up for it.

Across multiple events this month, we joined our community partners to spread the message that organ donation and blood donation go hand in hand. In Springfield, we kicked things off alongside the Gift of Hope Organ and Tissue Donor Network and the Sangamon County Coroner's Office. In Peoria, we stood alongside community partners at Carle Methodist Hospital to raise the Gift of Hope flag, and joined Harry Wilkins (CEO, Gift of Hope) for a Donate Life Month event. And in Davenport, we headed to Assumption High School where Iowa Donor Network set up an information table and several speakers shared their stories with students face to face.

Together, these events reached patients, families, students, and community leaders with one simple message. Saying yes saves lives.

Share Your Link. Save a Life.

You already know what it feels like to make a difference. Now you can bring someone else into that.

We just launched the Donor Referral Program, a simple way to personally invite someone to give blood for the first time. Log into your donor portal on a desktop, scroll to the bottom of your homepage, and grab your personal referral link. Text it. Post it. Share it.

When someone uses your link to schedule their first appointment, you both earn a limited-edition referral t-shirt while supplies last. Keep referring and unlock digital badges at every milestone. There is no limit to how many people you can bring in.

Most first-time donors just have not been personally invited yet. You can change that.

Reds for Rich

Blood gave the Gansheimer family ten more months with Rich. Now they give it back every year.

Last week marked the fourth annual Reds for Rich blood drive at Our Savior's Lutheran Church and School in Springfield, IL, held in honor of Rich Gansheimer, who passed away from acute lymphoblastic leukemia in 2021. During his treatment, Rich depended on countless whole blood and platelet transfusions, and his family once drove three and a half hours round trip just to find an adequate supply of his blood type.

That experience lit a fire. Nobody should ever have to do that again. Four years later, Reds for Rich is their answer.

Thank the Donor

"This blood helped save my dad’s life! Thank you so much! ♥?"

Blood donors rarely get to see the difference they make. Our Thank the Donor program changes that. When patients receive blood, they have the opportunity to send a personal message of gratitude directly to the donor who helped them, and we make sure that message gets delivered.

Partners for Life Newsletter May 2026