Over 400 people in the northern suburbs spent the morning of Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 8, donating pints of blood at Sts. Joseph and Francis Xavier Parish’s annual blood drive.
The event honors the life of Kevin Joseph Smith Burke, a parishioner who passed away in 2017 at age 23 due to a rare heart condition. It is the largest single day blood drive at a Catholic Church in the United States, according to the American Red Cross.
The blood drive started 11 years ago with 25 people donating. Then organizer and parishioner Jeff Later asked the Burkes, who are good friends of his, if he could rename the drive in their son’s honor, and donations rapidly increased.
Now, the blood drive is held in the school gym and has expanded into a festival-like atmosphere. Some parishioners donate crock pots filled with homemade soup for donors, while others bake cookies. The event includes a drive for the food pantry and soup kitchen at St. Thomas of Canterbury Church in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood, and a winter coat collection for Catholic Charities.
Girl Scouts sold cookies and kids hung out in an arts and craft area while parents or caregivers donated.
This year, the parish’s Care for Creation ministry provided recycling containers with the goal of making it a zero-waste event.
Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in Glenview partnered with Sts. Joseph and Francis Xavier on the drive.
“People who have been in this parish 60 years will tell me, ‘This is my favorite event all year,’” Later said. “It’s a feel-good event. You can’t put a finger on it.”
Every donor makes a difference, he said, adding that the American Red Cross issued a severe blood shortage alert in early February.
“I’m convinced there is a way to change the shortage. That’s the driver for me,” said Later, who has been donating blood for 31 years. “We’re making a dent in that.”
Kathryn Smith, the mother of Kevin Joseph Smith Burke, joined other volunteers in giving blood. Kevin’s father, Kevin J. Burke, did a “power red” donation, in which a concentrated dose of red blood cells are donated, while plasma and platelets are returned to the donor’s body. That allows a donor to give two units of the component of blood that is most needed by recipients.
Smith became emotional when thinking about her son and the blood drive. She carried the prayer card from his funeral in her waist pack.
“It’s a bit overwhelming,” she said. “It’s great, it’s such a good-feel day, but it’s hard too.”
Many of her son’s friends and family come every year to donate blood.
“It’s just such an important event,” Smith said. “It’s such a great memorial to him.”
People came from all over the Chicago area to donate, organizers said.
Diane Petersmarck rode the train from Evanston to Wilmette to donate blood. She recently learned she has O-positive blood type, which is in high demand because it can be given to anyone with a positive blood type.
“I think that’s kind of a responsibility and said that I would try and come to as many as I could,” she said.
Parishioner Brad Dow has O-negative blood type, which is rare and can be given to a person of any blood type in an emergency. He donated two units of red blood cells during the drive.
“My dad was an EMT back in his glory days and I’m in the Army now, so I know how important it is,” Dow said. “I know how valuable O-negative is, so it’s give it while you can. There is no excuse not to.”