Temple Tikvah Congregants Give Blood

The Sisterhood of  sponsored a blood drive for the New York Blood Center on Sunday. The drive, held annually, brought in over 30 congregants to give the gift of life.

"We've been doing this for over forty years… before giving blood was big," said Madeleine Wolf, coordinator of the blood drive and Temple board member. "We have four nurses taking blood and plasma and we have the ALYX machine. It's really a full-service blood drive."

At the drive, people's donations often amounted to more than the average pint. Some eligible donors were able to give valuable plasma, while others could give "two pints for the price of one" as Wolf put it, using the ALYX machine.

The ALYX is a machine that allows the donor to give two pints' worth of red blood cells. Rather than taking the usual three components at once -- red blood cells, plasma and platelets -- the machine filters only the tiny red blood cells, resulting in a double-concentrated pint.

"There's such a need for it, now that it's winter and there are less blood drives going on," Wolf said. "[The congregation] is very aware and very involved in social issues, so we get a lot of support for things like this."

Temple Tikvah itself has only existed a few years. Housed in the original Temple Emanuel building, Tikvah is the result of Temples Emanuel and Israel, of Jamaica, Queens, combining. The resulting congregation is a diverse, socially conscious and closely knit community of followers of the faith.

"There are so many young people that come too… We're seeing the next generation," said Wolf's mother and self-proclaimed "drive helper," Maralyn Sion. "It's good to see so many people come in on a Sunday and be so selfless by giving blood."