This article was updated on July 17 at 8:37 p.m. to include comments from elected officials.
Local politicians urged Westchester residents to fight a drastic shortage by donating blood at the Tuesday ribbon cutting ceremony marking the opening of the New York Blood Center Enterprise’s 14-acre campus in Rye.
County Legislator Catherine Parker, a Democrat, issued an appeal “for all of us to roll up our sleeves – literally – to help out.” Democrat Vedat Gashi, chair of the county Board of Legislators, said the 187,000-square-foot complex “is not just a building, it’s a lifesaver for so many people.”
The Midland Avenue complex’s 3,154-square-foot blood donation center can handle 14 people at a time giving a variety of forms of potentially lifesaving liquid from whole blood to platelets. O negative is the most sought-after type of blood because it can be given to any patient, but all blood types are needed, explained Karlene Darby, a donation center team leader.
NYBCe — one of the largest community-based, non-profit blood collection and distribution organizations in the U.S. — invested $108 million to merge facilities from several locations for research, blood collection, processing, distribution, and cell therapy operations into one massive location supporting hundreds of hospitals across the tristate region.
More than 600 employees will work out of the Rye campus which formerly housed an operations center for Avon Cosmetics that closed in 2018.
While the blood center supports the physical health of millions of people, it will contribute significantly to the fiscal health of Rye. The property – which the NYBCe leases from George Comfort & Sons – is currently Rye’s seventh biggest taxpayer.
Due to extensive renovations to the site, however, the property should jump to No. 3 in tax year 2026-27, generating more than $900,000 in revenue, according to Rye City Assessor Jon Flynn.
And NYBCe is clearly in it for the long haul, agreeing to a lease that runs through May 2053 with an option to renew for another 20 years.
Photo David Hessekiel
The Midland Avenue site’s strategic location was one of the major factors that led to its selection, according to NYBCe officials, as it sits at the confluence of I-95 and I-287 and within walking distance from the Rye Metro-North station.
That accessibility is extremely important to NYBCe’s efforts to dig out of a nationwide slump in blood donations.
The traditional blood collection model saw about 75 percent of its donations from remote drives at offices, schools, and other institutions prior to the pandemic. But that all changed in 2020.
The pandemic damaged many of those relationships as did the massive shift away from office-based work. So persuading more people to donate at collection centers — like the one in Rye — is an important new strategy for the organization, explained Chelsey Smith, the NYBCe director of public relations.
To drive awareness and donor traffic to the new Rye donor center, NYBCe has launched a robust multi-channel campaign that includes direct outreach to past and current Westchester County donors, regional print and digital advertising, and a 50,000-household direct mail campaign — all designed to re-engage its donor base and introduce the new location to the broader community, Smith told The Record.
Additionally, from June 27-July 7, anyone who donates at a NYBC donor center will receive a choice of a t-shirt or backpack, along with vouchers for two tickets to a New York Mets game.
NYBCe leaders hope such actions will help them stem “alarming decreases in first time and repeat donors” that have led to the current blood emergency, said Andrea Cefarelli, the organization’s senior vice president of corporate communications and public affairs.
To learn about donating blood and to make an appointment at the New York Blood Center in Rye, visit https://www.nybc.org/donate-blood/
