Montreal Canadiens host 42nd annual blood drive

Montrealers rolled up their sleeves and gave blood Monday at the 42nd annual Montreal Canadiens Blood Drive in partnership with Héma-Québec.

Every day, Héma-Québec must collect at least 1,000 blood donations to meet the needs of all hospitals across the province.

“It’s like so good to give,” said Vanessa Melançon, one of the many who donated. “You give chance to people to receive something.”

“You need to do it one time,” she added. “To just to look what it is.”

For Melançon, Monday was her 11^th time donating blood.

“The collect with the Canadiens de Montreal, that’s the most nicest one,” she said. “Because you can meet the players, you can talk with them.”

Habs players, coaches, alumni – and even Youppi! – will be at the Bell Centre for the blood drive from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.

“I think it’s great to be able to be here and support them,” said Mike Matheson, Assistant Captain, Montreal Canadiens. “They’re the ones doing all the work, we’re just here for support.”

The Habs Blood Drive began in 1981 by Jean Béliveau and announcer Claude Mouton. It’s resulted in 37,486 total blood donations, the team says.

“You can really get caught up into your day to day where you’re just busy living your life,” said Matheson. “To see that many people that kind of stopped that and decided, no, today I’m coming to do this is really impressive.”

“People can’t wait to meet their, for some of them, their idols,” said Marc-Antoine Turcotte, spokesperson, Héma-Québec. “People they follow on TV, so like local heroes for some of them.”

“I think it’s pretty cool for them to be able to do that,” he added. “But let’s not forget that the objective is to amass maximum amount of blood, to make sure we can address the supply correctly.”

Héma-Québec says its blood reserve is adequate, but it needs to boost its bank for groups O-positive and O-negative.

“If you’re O-positive, O-negative, or even any other blood type,” added Turcotte. “Every donation makes a difference.”

Appointments to give blood can be made online or by calling 1-800-343-7264 (SANG).

Before visiting a blood drive, check your eligibility by contacting Donor Services at 1-800-847-2525, or by visiting the Héma-Québec website.

“You give like chance to people to just keep surviving,” said Melançon. “And have a good life too.”