Red Cross recently unveiled its newly remodeled Great Falls Blood Donation Center, Blood Processing Center and Reference Lab, followed by the opening of its new Twin Falls Blood Donation Center in July.

More than 50 people attended the Great Falls event, which featured speeches from local blood recipients and tours of the new facilities.

Montana Red Cross Board Member and breast cancer survivor Denise Burk shared how grateful she was for the blood donors who provided the blood products she needed during her battle with cancer.

“I thanked the donors as I was receiving that blood for sacrificing their time and their energy to save me,” Burk said. “Those donations are the reason why I'm here and I'm alive.”

Wes Ross, whose son Troy was diagnosed with a rare immune disease in 2017, also recognized the generous donors who helped their family during an extremely difficult time. The Ross family organized nine Red Cross blood drives across Montana in June to pay it forward.

“I’m just honored and blessed that a little boy can inspire so much good for this world,” he said. “The support we receive is so humbling and just truly a testimony of what good things can happen when good people focus on the positive and helping the next person in need.”

The family of Wilbert Graf, a longtime Red Cross blood donor and volunteer, was also on hand to honor the Great Falls man’s giving legacy.

“He lived a very frugal life, always willing to help those who had less or were in need,” Curt Bedwell said. “God loves a cheerful giver, and Wilbert was an excellent example of that.”

The canteen area, where blood donors enjoy drinks and snacks after giving blood, has been named the Graf Family Café and Donor Suite in Wilbert’s honor.

The Great Falls facility had not seen significant upgrades since the 1970s, with purple carpet and tattered wallpaper being replaced with a much more welcoming atmosphere for donors and staff.

Attendees toured the blood processing center and reference lab, one of only 21 such facilities across the country. Those facilities feature high-tech equipment and highly trained staff and help match patients with their exact blood needs, including those who require extremely rare blood types.

The more than 44,000 blood products collected at Red Cross blood drives across the state come back to this facility to be screened and tested before they go out to Montana hospitals. 

The region also opened a new blood donation center in Twin Falls, Idaho, on July 1.

The Twin Falls facility has six collection beds, six local staff and will also serve as a staging area for Magic Valley mobile blood drives.

Previously, Red Cross teams commuted from Boise to Twin Falls area drives so this facility will reduce those costs and give Twin Falls area donors another convenient way to donate lifesaving blood. 

Twin Falls Mayor Ruth Pierce joined us for the center's opening, and several area first-responders rolled up their sleeves to give the gift of life, including Twin Falls Chief of Police Craig Kingsbury.

“I actually have a condition and when I get sick my hemoglobin gets really low,” Kingsbury said. “Back in 2015, I ended up in the hospital here in the state of Idaho and was in there for five days until I received five units of blood to get me back healthy and be able to get released from the ICU. So, I am a guy that’s very happy we are here, that people do donate blood because I have received blood on numerous occasions in my lifetime.”

Also donating on the opening day was Twins Falls mom Shandra Sterner. Shandra needed 88 units of blood after giving birth to her son and seized this opportunity to pay it back and help others like herself.

Red Cross is planning a grand-opening celebration at the center on July 26.