MORE then 65 pints of blood were collected from just over 90 people who responded to the appeal by Jamaica’s Freemasons to donate the precious bodily fluid last Saturday.

The third annual Freemasons National Blood Drive is being hailed by the organisers as the most successful ever and saw the fraternal organisation making a $140,000 donation to the National Blood Transfusion Service (Blood Bank) for the purchase of an air conditioning unit and standing fans.

The organisers said that more than 15 people who turned up after 2:00 pm to donate blood were not accommodated because of staff shortage issues and the fact that processing them would have pushed the end of the collection process way past the 3:00 pm closing time.

“The workers were fully occupied from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm without a break,” the organisers said, adding that people who qualified to donate but who were not able to do so will be able to return on Monday, November 17, 2025 to donate.