In a city known for its Midwestern generosity, one partnership has quietly become a lifeline for thousands. Scheels Sioux Falls has reached a remarkable milestone: 3,000 blood donations collected in partnership with Community Blood Bank, helping to save up to 9,000 local patients across the region.
For years, the Scheels location on 41st Street has opened its doors, not just for shoppers, but for the community’s most essential resource: blood. Through recurring blood drives, including the beloved annual “Lend an Arm” event held alongside Community Blood Bank and local media partners, Scheels has transformed its parking lot and entryway into a hub of generosity.
Each donation takes roughly 30 minutes. Each one can save up to three lives. Multiply that by 3,000 donations, and the math tells a powerful story: nearly 9,000 patients in southeastern South Dakota, northwest Iowa, and southwest Minnesota have had access to a safe, local blood supply because someone chose to roll up their sleeve at Scheels.
A Three-Way Partnership Built on Trust
This milestone didn’t happen overnight. It reflects the strength of a long-standing relationship between Scheels, Community Blood Bank, and the region’s two major hospital systems, Sanford USD Medical Center and Avera McKennan Hospital & University Health Center. Community Blood Bank operates as a shared resource of both health systems, meaning every donation collected at Scheels flows directly back into the hospitals treating patients in the community that gave it.
“Donating blood is an easy way to provide hope to local patients and ensure blood is available for friends, family and neighbors,” Ken Versteeg, Community Blood Bank, Executive Director. “Scheels understands our mission, a sentiment that has clearly resonated with Sioux Falls donors.”
Scheels employees organizing sign-ups, a shopper who paused their errands to donate, a first-time donor nervous about the needle, or a returning volunteer who has given a gallon or more over the years. It’s this mix of staff dedication and patron generosity that turned a single store location into one of the region’s most consistent blood donation sites.
Community Blood Bank serves more than 40 hospitals throughout the region and needs 500 to 550 donors every week just to keep pace with patient needs for surgeries, trauma care, cancer treatment, and countless emergencies that arrive without warning.
