The Exhibit Designer’s and Producers Association (EDPA) Las Vegas Chapter sponsored a blood drive in honor of Tim Provo, owner of Elements. The blood drive kicked off Nov.16 in Czarnowski’s the parking lot of, with a United Blood Services Bus, and ended at Elements Exhibits on Nov. 19 with a wrap-up party and another bus.
Fellow industry friends from across the country also volunteered to give blood in their hometowns to commemorate the event. The local chapter worked with United Blood Services, who supplied staffing at both locations, as well as supplied posters and paycheck stuffers.
Provo was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia in July. While he is expected to make a full recovery, the EDPA Las Vegas Chapter wanted to do something that would allow them to show him their support.
“Because Tim is such a supporter of the local and national association, our board wanted to do something that would not cost anyone anything, yet allow people to be involved and show their support,” said Dalene Threeton, chapter president. “A blood drive was the perfect solution because it could help our community at the same time show our support for him. This will now become an annual event for the local chapter, and we hope it will ignite other chapters to follow suit in the coming years.”
While the event started as a local Las Vegas initiative, the response from friends, family and colleagues across the country was overwhelming.
“At the Elements van, we had so many people come to donate; they had to cut us off because they ran out of supplies,” said Alicia Rosen of Elements. “Tim was able to make it out for about an hour, so he was able to thank everyone for coming and see the turnout.He was very moved by the tremendous show of support from everyone. Even members of the North Las Vegas Police Department’s K9 unit came out.We had some great sponsors, too. AFR [American Furniture Rental] supplied all of the furniture. Pilot sponsored the food. STI [Specialized Transportation, Inc] sponsored the beverages. Laird Plastics sponsored the juice bar and Trade Show Technical supplied the sound system.”
“Thank you for a beautiful job,” said Julie Lindsay, senior donor recruiter for United Blood Services, Las Vegas. “I am so very impressed with the energy, caring and organizational skills that it took to pull this off. I am honored to have witnessed such a strong outpouring of caring and concern for Mr. Provo.”
Elizabeth Smith, recruiter for the drive at Czarnowski, was so pleased with the turn out and enthusiasm of the donors that she has requested EDPA Las Vegas Chapter hosts another drive in March. Perhaps this can be done in conjunction with chapter breakfast meeting at the Exhibitor2010 show at Mandalay Bay.
As of press time, it is calculated there were more than 65 donations with more confirmations coming in from Southern California, Atlanta and Rochester, NY. Some donors were able to give double units and whole blood. Once all locations have submitted their sign-in sheets a random drawing will be done for the winner of a new 42-inch Sharp LED LCD TV donated by Judah Zeigler, associate vice president of retail and consumer marketing at Sharp Electronics Corporation.
The Las Vegas Chapter wanted to thank Shannon and Karen (coordinators at Czarnowski and Elements) for their efforts with registrations.
For more information on how you can help your local community with a blood drive visit www.unitedbloodservices.org/index.asp or www.redcross.org/donate/give.
