It’s a tale of two restaurants combining forces to advance the health and well-being of our local community!
The Saucy Shrimp and Soyumi Asian Kitchen restaurants recently partook in a blood donation drive event to help refill the local blood supply. The event was done in conjunction with “The Blood Connection,” who has several running donation sites throughout South Carolina and Georgia. The two-day event saved over 100 lives with various blood donations being given from locals. The event not only created whirlwinds of local wellness, but spawned tons of fun in the process.
The event took place on Monday March 6 and Tuesday March 7 (at The Saucy Shrimp and Soyumi, respectively). Donation buses were located on-site at each location for participating donors. Each donor received a $70 e-gift card. The demographic of donors ranged from college students to middle-aged locals. Patrons of all ages came together to support both restaurants in their collective efforts to promote local wellness, in addition to raising awareness of blood drives in general.
Ultimately, 27 people donated blood at The Saucy Shrimp restaurant, while 28 people donated at Soyumi Asian Kitchen restaurant. Furthermore (scientifically speaking), one donation of blood equates to saving three lives. So, in total, 165 lives were saved by both restaurants. And furthermore, there were so many more locals waiting in line to donate blood. But ultimately, they had to be turned away due to limiting factors such as time and resource constraints.
Now, blood donation drives are vital to sustaining world health and wellness.
In fact (per the Blood Connection’s website), “someone in the United States needs blood every two seconds and one in ten patients who show up to a hospital will need blood”. So, there is a continuous need to have blood donation sites stocked up at all times.
Furthermore, blood reserves must be stocked up with the four types of blood, in both positive and negative formats. Those formats are “O-type, A-type, B-type, and AB-type. Likewise, the website states that all donors must be in good health, at least 17 years old (16 years old with parental consent) and weigh at least 110 pounds to be eligible to donate blood. So, undoubtedly, the stringent process of donating blood calls for the whole of humanity to combine efforts to keep this life-saving substance available for continued collective use.
The Blood Connection’s Accounts Manager, Jason Smith, reiterates these sentiments exactly. Smith stated that “blood is essential to our basic human functioning and wellness. Quite simply, it is needed to save lives. Now, I have known Adam Tsang (Saucy Shrimp and Soyumi restaurant owner) for over 10 years. He has truly been an incredible mentor to me over the course of my professional career. So, teaming up with him and his organizations for this event was an incredible opportunity. I would like to thank him, as well as his General Managers, Taylor Rodgers (Soyumi) and Nathanial Lewis (The Saucy Shrimp), for their dynamic planning and event execution. This Statesboro blood drive event was one of our most successful drives due to the overwhelming response and donations we received.”
General Managers Rodgers and Lewis also shared their treasured highlights from the event. Rodgers shared that “Soyumi loves giving back to the community in any way that we can! Doing a blood drive is just one of the many ways we can help change lives for the better. I love seeing my staff and regulars supporting a drive that ultimately helps more than just Statesboro. We saved over 100 lives and that’s amazing. We can’t wait to do it again!”
Likewise, Lewis informed us that “it was a fantastic event! Me and my staff enjoyed it. I come from a family who works in the medical field. So, I know how important blood donation drives are. I personally have the ‘O-‘ blood type, which is a rare blood type. So, donation drives like this one help individuals like me especially. It ensures that there are plenty of reserves available for individuals who have rare-blood types, should emergency reserves be needed immediately.”
For more information of how to donate blood, please visit https://thebloodconnection.org/ for more resources.
For more information on The Saucy Shrimp and Soyumi Asian Kitchen restaurants, please visit https://saucyshrimpofficial.com/ or https://soyumieats.com/ for more information.
