Hugs all around!

The Blood Center East Texas brought not only life-saving blood donations to patients in local hospitals during the holiday season, but also lots of holiday warmth.

Through the Holiday Hugs program, in which blood donors were asked to write notes of well-wishes to patients during the month of December, The Blood Center delivered cuddly stuffed animals bearing those notes to patients at both Memorial Health Systems of East Texas and Woodland Heights Hospital in Lufkin.

At the former, Mary Frances Bradford, director of The Blood Center East Texas; Chris Gaston, a member of the Lufkin Community Advocates; and Memorial Health Systems’ chaplain, “Brother Billy,” teamed up to deliver bears to patients that had used blood throughout the hospital.

At Woodland Heights, Marketing Director Tara Watson joined in the holiday fun and presented patients like Josie Holmes with teddy bears