Evanston Police Detective Tracy Williams was presented with the “2010 Most Innovative Blood Drive Coordinator Award” by the Illinois Coalition of Community Blood Centers at the Evanston Police Station on Nov. 8.
Detective Williams organized a blood drive to save his friend and fellow Detective Joseph Bush who was severely injured in an accident on his way to work in Nov. 2009. Detective Bush needed numerous transfusions.
Detective Williams contacted LifeSource to set up a special blood drive. He also put together a website, recruited fire and law enforcement officials from across the northwest suburbs to donate blood, and he reached out to media outlets to promote the drive. The blood drive was a huge success, bringing in nearly 300 donors.
Margaret Vaughn, government affairs director for the Coalition, said in presenting the award that people out in the trenches who organize a blood drive “are invaluable to successful blood drives.” They are the “life line.”
Tammy Basile, spokesperson for Life Source, said, “It’s an award about friendship. … One friend wanted to do something when another needed help. The friendship extended to people serving with him, and it extended to the community.”
In addition to receiving the award from the Coalition, State Representative Robyn Gabel presented Detective Williams with a House of Representatives Resolution congratulating him for receiving the award. Representative Gabel said the Resolution commended Detective Williams “for his commitment to the recovery of his friend, Officer Joseph Bush, and his hard work in making the Joseph Bush Replenishment Fund Blood Drive a success.”
Detective Bush, Police Chief Richard Eddington, and other police officers attended the award ceremony, as did Detective Williams’ wife and one of his daughters.