WJOL’s Scott Slocum to broadcast live during March 29 Blood Drive at Will County State’s Attorney’s Office in downtown Joliet

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March 14

JOLIET – WJOL’s Scott Slocum will kick off the Taylor Babec Benefit Blood Drive with a live broadcast from the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office in downtown Joliet on the morning of March 29. 

The Blood Drive, coordinated in partnership with State’s Attorney James Glasgow, Heartland Blood Centers and Jennifer Babec, who is Taylor Babec’s mother, will begin an hour earlier than originally scheduled.

The Blood Drive will run from 7:30 a.m. until 2:30 p.m.

on Thursday, March 29 at the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office,

121 N. Chicago St., Joliet, directly across from the Rialto Square Theatre.

Two of Heartland Blood Center’s Mobile Coaches will be at the office to accommodate donors on that day. State’s Attorney Glasgow encourages anyone who works in or plans to visit downtown Joliet to take roughly 30 minutes to donate blood on March 29.

“We’re pleased that WJOL and Scott Slocum will help the State’s Attorney’s Office launch our first Blood Drive,” said State’s Attorney Glasgow. “The WJOL broacast will raise awareness about the need to replenish blood and blood products in our local hospitals. We’ll also have an opportunity to discuss issues with public officials and local business leaders who drop by to donate blood or support the drive.”

Appointments can be made by calling volunteer coordinator Jennifer Babec at (815) 325-4282 or by visiting Heartland Blood Centers online at www.heartlandbc.org. Walk-in donors also will be welcomed. Every donor will receive a free pair of cotton, flannel-style lounge pants from Heartland Blood Centers. Other prizes, including gift baskets from downtown Joliet businesses, will be raffled to donors at the end of the drive.

Jennifer Babec of Joliet is the top volunteer Blood Drive coordinator for Heartland Blood Centers.  She has been coordinating drives with Heartland since 2008, shortly after her 5-year-old daughter, Taylor, was diagnosed with lymphoma. During Taylor’s three-year recovery, she required intensive chemotherapy treatments and 22 blood transfusions that would revive both her physical energy and her spirits. 

Taylor is now 10-years-old, and her cancer thankfully is in remission. Jennifer, however, has continued to coordinate blood drives so there is an ample supply for other children who need life-saving transfusions.  More than 800 donations have been collected during her local blood drives over the years.

Heartland Blood Centers is an independent not-for-profit blood center serving 38 hospitals in a 12-county area including Kane, McHenry, DeKalb, Will, DuPage, Cook, Grundy, Kendall, Lee, Ogle and LaSalle counties in Illinois, and Lake county in Indiana.  Heartland is the sole provider of blood and blood products for Silver Cross Hospital and Provena Saint Joseph Medical Center.

For information on the March 29 Blood Drive or to schedule an appointment, please call (815) 325-4282 or visit Heartland Blood Centers at www.heartlandbc.org.