By Victoria Hurley-Schubert,Staff Writer
A vampire-themed blood drive held at the Quakerbridge Mall last year has been awarded America’s Blood Centers’ 15th annual Most Creative Blood Drive Award.
Marian Kapp, director of marketing and business development at the Lawrenceville-based shopping mall, was honored with the national award for the March 5 event that drew thousands of screaming “Twilight” fans and raised awareness for the Community Blood Council.
”Twilight” is a book and movie franchise about vampires and werewolves that has evolved into a sensation.
”Peter Facinelli’s agent had approached us about doing an appearance,” she said. “I thought it would be a great event, but I wanted to tie it to the community and not just have an actor appearance. I brainstormed with his agent who mentioned he had done a blood drive once before and I immediately thought of the Community Blood Council.”
To encourage blood donations, Ms. Kapp arranged a private dinner with the actor, who plays the Cullen family patriarch in the “Twilight” movie franchise, for a few lucky donors. Fans were also able to take photos and get autographs with Mr. Facinelli during the afternoon.
”This award is presented to an organization that has shown an exceptional commitment to establishing blood donation as a priority within its community or organization during 2011,” said Dan A. Waxman, MD, President of America’s Blood Centers.
The blood drive took about a month to organize, said Ms. Kapp.
”There were a lot of different components it,” she said. “It’s quite an honor to be recognized for all your hard work, and it was a combination of everyone involved. The community aspect of it was rewarding and being able to save lives through the blood drive.”
The Community Blood Council of New Jersey received almost 10 times as many blood donations over previous mall blood drives.

