Sox seats elude blood donors from Maine

Those Mainers who gave blood to the American Red Cross in hopes of winning a pair of tickets to today’s Red Sox-Yankee playoff game will have to catch the action on television.

Dawn Gaffka, Red Cross director of donor recruitment for Maine, said that despite hopes that a local person would win the tickets, the prize seats went to a fan from Massachusetts.”It’s kind of a shame. We were just hoping it would be somebody from Maine, but it just didn’t happen,” Gaffka said Friday. “Oh well, we’ll just have to root for the Sox from our couches.”

The pair of seats were donated by Central Bank of Somerville, Mass. Thursday was declared Red Sox Day at the Red Cross and anyone who gave blood was eligible for the raffle. Despite the tickets going to someone from out of state, Gaffka said the Red Cross was the real winner of the raffle.

Gaffka said more than 160 individuals gave blood at the Bangor and Portland donor centers on Thursday and that both centers were busy on Friday as well. She said that supplies of Type-O blood that were low before the blood drive had been replenished.

“We’re all in this together and we are thankful for those who supported us. It was a great response. Both days were very, very busy,” said Gaffka.

The ticket raffle was open to donors from Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts.

The Red Cross and Red Sox participated in a community blood drive at Fenway Park earlier this year to mark the 9-11 terrorist attacks as part of the Red Cross’ nationwide “Save a Life Tour.” Gaffka said more than 480 donors took part in that event.

Gaffka said the Save a Life Tour was such a success that Red Cross agencies from northern New England approached the Red Sox about tying a blood drive to the American League Championship Series. She said the Red Sox agreed and the bank provided the pair of tickets for the raffle.