Campaign honors fallen officers across Indiana, raises awareness of need for blood

Throughout the summer months, the American Red Cross will participate in the statewide Fallen Officer Blood Drive Campaign. This is the ninth year the Red Cross will host blood drives across Indiana to honor fallen officers and raise awareness of the need for blood.

Janice Starnes, whose husband Sergeant Daniel Starnes was killed in the line of duty in 2001, founded the campaign and continues to organize it each year. ³Most encouraging,² Starnes says, ³is that the blood drives continue to grow and our officers are not forgotten thanks to the people who come to give blood in their memory.²

More than 30,000 units of blood have been collected since the 2007 start of the Fallen Officer blood drives.

The following Fallen Officer Blood Drives will take place in your community:

Adams County
June 15 from 2 p.m. ­ 8 p.m. at Lehman Park Pavilion, 667 Lehman St. in Berne.

Allen County
July 13 from 11 a.m. ­ 5 p.m. at Fort Wayne Donor Center, 1212 E. California Rd. in Fort Wayne.

July 14 from 11 a.m. ­ 5 p.m. at Fort Wayne Donor Center, 1212 E. California Rd. in Fort Wayne.

July 15 from 12 a.m. ­ 6 p.m. at Fort Wayne Donor Center, 1212 E. California Rd. in Fort Wayne.

July 16 from 12 a.m. ­ 6 p.m. at Fort Wayne Donor Center, 1212 E. California Rd. in Fort Wayne.

July 17 from 8 a.m. ­ 2 p.m. at Fort Wayne Donor Center, 1212 E. California Rd. in Fort Wayne.

July 18 from 8 a.m. ­ 1 p.m. at Fort Wayne Donor Center, 1212 E. California Rd. in Fort Wayne.

DeKalb County
July 7 from 12 p.m. ­ 6 p.m. at First United Methodist Church, 1203 E. 7th St. in Auburn.

Huntington County
June 1 from 2 p.m. ­ 7 p.m. at Evangelical United Methodist Church, 1000 Flaxmill Rd. in Huntington,

LaGrange County
June 9 from 11 a.m. ­ 5 p.m. at LaGrange First Church of God, 777 N. Detroit St. in LaGrange.

Noble County
July 17 from 12 p.m. ­ 5 p.m. at Ashbury United Methodist Church, 605 E. Main St. in Albion.

Steuben County
May 11 from 10 a.m. ­ 4 p.m. at Fairview Missionary Church, 525 E. 200 N. in Angola.

Wells County
June 29 from 11 a.m. ­ 5 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church, 215 E. Dustman Rd. in Bluffton.

Whitley County
June 22 from 2 p.m. ­ 7 p.m. at Whitley County Sheriff¹s Department, 101 W. Market St. in Columbia City.