William Gene Beasley of Paducah received an Outstanding Volunteer Award. Mr. Beasley began volunteering at the Paducah Red Cross site on October 27, 1988, and has helped the team in numerous ways. During his years of service, he has delivered blood products to hospitals, shuttled equipment from Paducah to Nashville and driven box trucks to blood drives, making sure the equipment got to the location when a staff member was sick.  Beasley has volunteered around 8,000 hours of his time, driven over 386,000 miles, and has never lost his positive attitude.

Petter Supply and Dippin’ Dots Inc. were both awarded the Sponsor Partnership Award. As corporate neighbors, these two businesses work together to allow their employees to donate blood while at work. Each quarter they jointly host a blood drive and over the past 12 years have contributed over 1,100 units of blood for patients in need.

The Tennessee Valley Region Donor Recruitment Department nominated numerous individuals, businesses and schools in 11 award categories. From those nominations, 24 award winners were selected.