Cape Fear Valley Blood Donor Center Urgently Needs Donors

For those that love making a difference in our community, your help is needed as the Cape Fear Valley Blood Donor Center urgently needs donors to give the gift of life, a pint of blood.

Sadly, during warmer weather, the number of blood donations decreases and that is why the Cape Fear Valley Blood Donor Center finds themselves in an urgent situation.

For those who are able to donate, please go by the Blood Donor Center located at 3357 Village Drive in Fayetteville, North Carolina.

The Blood Donor Center has also scheduled a number of mobile blood drives. I have the list below.

Whether you stop by the Blood Donor Center or visit one of the mobile sites, thank you.

For more information on the Blood Donor Center of Cape Fear Valley, click here.

After you check in, you will be asked to fill out a short questionnaire. Then you will receive a brief health check and then it’s on to actually donating blood.

Did you know that by donating a single pint of blood, you could save as many as 3 lives? The life you save could be a newborn baby, or someone involved in a vehicle accident or someone battling cancer.

In addition to accepting donations of blood, the Blood Donor Center encourages donations of platelets. When you donate platelets, the Blood Donor Center will take your blood, remove the platelets and then return the plasma and red cells to you. Please note, that to donate platelets, it may take 1-2 hours compared to only a few minutes to donate a pint of blood.

Cape Fear Valley Blood Donor Center Manager Amy Fisher said “platelets especially help cancer patients who are going through chemotherapy, so if you know someone who has cancer and wish you could do something to help, this would be a great action to take.”

To schedule a platelet donation, call the Blood Donor Center at 910-615-3305.

As an incentive for those giving blood at the Cape Fear Valley Blood Donor Center, you will receive a 60-minute game pass for Main Event in Fayetteville, while supplies last.

Also, every person that donates will be entered into a giveaway for one of three $500 Visa gift cards. The gift card giveaway will take place at the end of the month of July.

One other thing, if you donate blood on a Monday, not only will you get the 60-minute game pass for Main Event but you will also receive a free movie ticket.

The Cape Fear Valley Blood Donor Center serves the needs of patients in Cumberland, Hoke, Harnett and Bladen counties.

The Blood Donor Center is located at 3357 Village Drive in Fayetteville, North Carolina in the Bordeaux Shopping Center. Hours for donations are Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. DOnations are also accepted on the third Saturday of each month from 8 a.m. until 12 noon.

The center will be closed on Thursday, July 4, for the holiday.

---The Offices of Village Green: Wednesday, July 3, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., 1900 Fordham Drive, Fayetteville, N.C.

---Home Instead: Thursday, July 11, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., 555 Executive Place, Fayetteville, N.C.

---Haymount Institute for Psychological Services: Wednesday, July 12, 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., 996 Helen St., Fayetteville, N.C.

---St. Ann Catholic Church: Thursday, July 13, 9 a.m. to Noon, 357 N. Cool Spring St., Fayetteville, N.C.

If your businesses or organizations would like to host a mobile blood drive, contact Kristyn Keefe at (910) 615-3306.

Thank You very much for donating to the Blood Donor Center of Cape Fear Valley.

There's been a lot of buzz around the benefits of North Carolina local honey and we here in the Sandhills area are especially lucky because we have the rarest of rare honeys: purple honey.

The Sandhills of North Carolina are thought to be the only place in the world where purple honey is produced! Some say it's the only place on Earth where this mystery of nature is found. The exact cause of the purple color remains unknown, though there are several theories including sourwood trees growing in high aluminum soils, kudzu or titi plants, and muscadine grapes.

However, some beekeepers dispute these, noting the purple honey appears before kudzu blooms and that sourwood is more common in the mountains than the Sandhills. The purple honey has a distinctive fruity, sweet flavor compared to regular honey. It's described as tangy and very sweet with a familiar yet hard to identify fruit undertone. The color is natural, not an additive. It can range from a deep purple to a more bluish hue. The purple honey also tends to be thinner in consistency than regular honey.

Local honey is a delicious and nutritious treat that offers many benefits, especially when sourced from apiaries in your area. Local honey has some great benefits such as allergy relief, which is great news for those of us that suffer during the pollen season. Local honey contains small amounts of pollen from plants in your area. Consuming this honey regularly can help your body build up a tolerance, reducing seasonal allergy symptoms. Antioxidants and nutrients; raw, unprocessed honey is rich in antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals that support overall health and wellness. It's also a cough suppressant! Honey has been shown to be an effective natural cough suppressant, making it a great remedy for sore throats and respiratory issues.

In and around Fayetteville, North Carolina, there are several great options for finding high-quality, locally produced honey. One excellent source is Beehive Yourself, a local business that infuses their honey with healthy flavors. They use all-natural ingredients and take pride in offering a product that not only tastes great but also provides the health benefits associated with raw, local honey.

Another option is Secret Garden Bees in nearby Linden, NC. This veteran owned; family-owned apiary is known for their exceptional raw honey. They take great care in maintaining their hives and extracting the honey in a way that preserves its natural goodness. Local favorite spot for honey goodness is Curate Essentials, located at 1302 Fort Bragg Road in Fayetteville. While not in Fayetteville, King Cobra Apiary in Alamance and Orange Counties offers raw North Carolina honey with no additives that is never heated.

LocalHoneyFinder.org provides a list of North Carolina beekeepers, apiaries, and beehives that sell local honey, raw or pasteurized, honeycombs, beeswax, pollen and more.

There are a few other rare or unique types of honey found in North Carolina besides the famous purple honey:

Sourwood trees grow best for honey production in western North Carolina and northern Georgia. Sourwood honey is considered one of the best and rarest honeys in the world, with an earthy, buttery caramel flavor.

Produced from gallberry bushes in the pine savannas and scrubland of eastern North Carolina. Gallberry honey has a light amber color and a mild, fruity, warm flavor with a slight leafy aftertaste.

Made from the nectar of towering tulip poplar trees in the Piedmont region. Despite its bold, dark amber color, tulip poplar honey has a surprisingly light, buttery flavor.

Similar to purple honey, blue honey is also found rarely by some North Carolina beekeepers, though the cause of the unusual color is unknown.

While not as rare, other notable North Carolina honey varieties include wildflower, clover, apple blossom, and honey made from non-native floral sources like New Zealand plants. The diverse plant life across the state's different regions allows for a wide range of unique honey flavors. However, the changing landscape and decline of some native plants like gallberry bushes and sourwood trees may impact the ongoing production of these rare honey types.