JOPLIN, Mo. — January is National Blood Donor Month a time to give thanks to those who donate blood. And, the Community Blood Center of the Ozarks is celebrating with a special 56-Day Challenge. It encourages people to donate once every 56 days. It also gives them a chance to win up to $5,000 dollars.

The first step — donate blood sometime this month.
Next, fill out a challenge form online.
Finally, make a second donation by April 6th.

“After that, you will go in a drawing for a $1,000 Visa gift card. But don’t stop there, because it’s a challenge for all year long. You can donate every 56 days, and every time, the pot gets bigger. So, for the second drawing, it’s going to be a $2,000 drawing, then 3, 4, and 5. And what’s really cool is, if you win once, you can win again,” said Michelle Teter, Media Relations Representative, CBCO.

On average, a person will donate blood twice a year — but this challenge comes with the goal of getting more donors in order to meet the demand local hospitals continue to see.

For more information on the challenge, along with donation sites follow this link here.