Lincoln County Battle of the Badges moves to downtown North Platte

NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (KNOP) - The American Red Cross once again partnered with Greater Nebraska first responders for the 14th Annual Lincoln County Battle of the Badges Blood Drive on Monday, with the Law Enforcement team squeaking out a victory over the Fire and EMS team, 36-33. The North Platte Red Cross exceeded its goal of 60 donors by tallying 66.

Lincoln County firefighters and law enforcement competed to see who could recruit the most blood donors.

More than 1,200 units of blood have been collected in the previous 13 years of the Lincoln County Battle of the Badges Blood Drive, which started as a way to honor the loss of life that occurred on Sept. 11, 2001, including first responders who gave the ultimate sacrifice on the horrific day 22-years-ago.

“We try to have it on 9/11 or around 9/11 just because that date for any first responder whether you’ve been in for 50 years or 50 days that date has significance, but for us to be able to help save lives to impact those that we lost it a huge deal, it really is,” said Amanda Wehnes, Red Cross Account Manager.

This year, the Lincoln County Battle of the Badges moved to a new location in downtown North Platte at Venue 304. Wehnes thanked those who run Venue 304, saying the move to downtown North Platte was ideal and Venue 304 is a nice spacious, and clean location.

Wehnes also stressed the need for donors on the heels of an active summer.

“We’ve seen flooding, we’ve seen hurricanes, we’ve had fires. Our blood supply is low, I’ll be honest, it’s a little scary right now. We are not to the point where we are rationing blood or telling hospitals no, but unless we get this turned around and get more people to donate, that could potentially happen. Every blood donation can impact more than one person because we can give different parts of blood to different patients but the need is constant. Every two seconds somebody needs blood,” said Wehnes.

Learn more and sign up to donate blood here.

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