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OTTUWMA, IOWA -- The holidays may be over, but there are still plenty of opportunities to give back to the community.

The Mississippi Valley Regional Blood Center is hosting their annual Gift of Life blood drive on Thursdsay, January 5 at the Bridge View Center in Ottuwma.

"We do one of these every January, it's designed to help us restore inventory levels after the Christmas and New Year's holidays," donor relations consultant Ashleigh Richmond said. "Everybody's been busy and not really been donating blood as frequently as they do other times of the year. We want to get our inventory levels back up to a respectible level and this blood drive helps us do that."

Richmond said they collected 113 pints of blood at last year's drive. Their goal this year is 107.

The event on Thursday is sponsored by local media and will run from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m.

Walk-ins are welcome, or you can call the center for an appointment at 682-8149. Richmond said there are already around 100 people signed up to donate, but they are always looking for more.

"We just want to encourage everyone to donate blood, this is an important time of year to do it," she said. "If you're not going to do it any other time of year, do it not, it's going to have a big impact, because we are struggling to collect blood after the holidays."