MKBC News & Community Impact

On Thursday, April 9, Miller-Keystone Blood Center (MKBC) announced the winner of its 2026 Blood Donor Madness competition during a Winners Announcement and Wrap-up Celebration held at Coca-Cola Park. The event took place in the BSI Corporate Benefits Dugout Suite, with the official champion announced on the field prior to the start of the Lehigh Valley IronPigs game.

Lehigh University was named the 2026 Blood Donor Madness champion. The annual campaign is designed to boost blood donations across the region through a fun and friendly competition among local colleges and universities. As this year’s winner, Lehigh University will receive a $10,000 gift to its scholarship program, generously provided by BSI Corporate Benefits, along with the official MKBC Blood Donor Madness trophy.

“Thirteen regional colleges and universities participated in our 2026 Blood Donor Madness competition,” said Rami Nemeh, President & CEO of Hospital Central Services, Inc./Miller-Keystone Blood Center. “Thanks to their combined efforts, more than 550 blood donors were brought in, impacting approximately 1,500 lives in our community. We are grateful to all participating schools and congratulate Lehigh University on being crowned this year’s champion.”

The 12-week competition launched on January 12 and concluded on April 3, with participating schools competing to collect the highest number of blood donations. The total number of blood donations for each institution was weighted, with each school given a goal of 2% of its total student population.

Participating schools in the 2026 competition included:

• Cedar Crest College *
• DeSales University *
• Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine *
• Kutztown University
• Lackawanna College
• Lafayette College *
• Lehigh Carbon Community College *
• Lehigh University – 2026 winner
• Moravian University *
• Northampton Community College
• Penn State Berks
• Penn State Lehigh Valley *
• Reading Hospital School of Health Sciences *

* Schools achieving or exceeding their 2026 goal and receiving a $1,000 gift to their scholarship fund

The 2026 Blood Donor Madness competition was generously sponsored by BSI Corporate Benefits and Capital BlueCross. 

Blood Donor Madness Details: https://www.giveapint.org/donormadness/

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WFMZ Channel 69 News:
Competing to save lives: Lehigh University wins 2026 Blood Donor Madness competition

“Bloodhound II” and “Bloodhound III” Debut on May 28 Thanks to Generous Support from the Counties of Lehigh and Northampton

Miller-Keystone Blood Center (MKBC)recently held a ribbon-cutting ceremony at its Bethlehem headquarters (1465 Valley Center Parkway) on Thursday, May 28, at 9:30 AM, to celebrate the arrival and launch into service of its two newest bloodmobiles, Bloodhound II and Bloodhound III.

Named in honor of MKBC’s mascot, Half-Pint the Bloodhound, the newest bloodmobiles were generously underwritten in part by Lehigh County and Northampton County, respectively. The vehicles join Bloodhound I, which launched into service in Spring 2025. The debut of the two new vehicles will expand the center’s ability to collect lifesaving blood donations throughout the region, an important need at this time due to an ongoing blood shortage across the nation. It is also anticipated that the arrival of these two vehicles will enable MKBC to retire one of the Blood Center’s older vehicles, which has exceeded its life expectancy.

The entire ribbon-cutting ceremony, including comments from Northampton County Executive, Tara Zrinski, and Lehigh County Executive, Josh Siegel, can be viewed on MKBC’s YouTube Channel.

Officials at Miller-Keystone Blood Center recently announced the recipients of its MKBC Impact Awards. The awards were presented during an event held on Tuesday, March 3, at DeSales University.

“Our Impact Awards were created as a way to say thank you and celebrate the incredible difference our blood donors, blood drive hosts, blood drive coordinators, funders, volunteers, and ambassadors make – not only for our organization, but for our entire community,” said Rami Nemeh, President & CEO of Miller-Keystone Blood Center.

This year’s Impact Award recipients include:

• George Ashman Award for Blood Drive Coordinator of the Year: Kevin Unger, St. Peter’s UCC (West Lawn, PA)
• Blood Drive of the Year – Business: Aman’s Artisan Indian Cuisine (Easton, PA)
• Blood Drive of the Year – Community: Kempton Excavating / Kempton Community Blood Drive (Kempton, PA)
• Angela Hohl Award for High School Blood Drive of the Year: Bethlehem Area Vocational Technical School (Bethlehem, PA)
• MKBC Volunteer of the Year: Shayne Murray (Easton, PA)
• MKBC Ambassador of the Year: Sofia Groves (Allentown, PA)

Additional Details: https://www.giveapint.org/impact-awards/
PHOTO CREDIT:  Marco Calderon