KILLEEN, Texas (Aug. 19, 2021) – The Killeen Police and Fire Departments saw the number of donors nearly double this year in the fourth annual Battle of the Badges Blood Drive on Aug. 18.
The City of Killeen partnered with Carter BloodCare for the second year in a row, bringing in Carter’s biggest, single-day collection in Bell County this year.
The results: 92 units of blood collected from 98 donors. That means 276 lives can now possibly be saved and the blood remains local in Bell County, including the Veterans Administration Clinic.
“This is awesome,” Vickie Carpenter, Carter BloodCare Operations Manager of Central Texas, said. “I can’t wait to see what y’all do next year!”
The event featured the ‘boots’ (Fire Department) versus the ‘badges’ (Police Department) and the public was invited to donate blood, then cast their vote for their favorite department.
This year, the Fire Department received 48 votes to the Police Department’s 42 votes. That means, for the second year in a row, KPD will have to wash the company vehicles of the Fire Department.
KPD won the Battle of the Badges during the first two years of this event and KFD won the last two years, so that also means next year’s event will be a tiebreaker blood drive.
We thank the community for their support and encourage everyone to continue to participate in future blood drives.