Lee's Summit Fire and Police are often on the front lines of accidents and violence.
"We have a front row seat sometimes to the tragedies and things where blood is needed," explained Sgt. Chris Depue with the Lee's Summit Police Department. "The families we see affected by that - so for us it is a personal issue."
Which is why on this day they're out for blood.
"Every day there is a critical need for blood in the Kansas City metro," said Assistant Fire Chief Jim Eden of the Lee's Summit Fire Department. "This is a good opportunity to fulfill that need."
That opportunity is the police versus fire Battle for Blood drive. Blood donors voted for which department they wanted their donation to count towards.
"I'm a nursing student so I know every pint helps," said Sarah Bryant, who donated in memory of her grandmother. "She recently passed away, and she was a 157-gallon donor. So I figured, the rest of my life I will donate every eight weeks in her honor."
With that 157 gallon lifetime donation, her grandmother Ann saved as many as 471 lives. That breaks down to each pint saving up to three lives.
The Community Blood Center said this drive is especially important; it increases blood stores ahead of the summer shortage.
"Blood donation is literally a life and death situation," said Chelsey Webber with Community Blood Center of Kansas City. "Going into the summer months, we often face blood emergencies, which means we don't have enough blood to supply all of our local hospitals."
Which is key. After all, someone, somewhere in the U.S. needs live-saving blood every two seconds.
And by the way, the police department won the challenge 32 pints to the fire department's 29.
