Red Cross ending pop-up blood drives in eastern, northern Maine

Decision sidelines rural Mainers, says one longtime donor

As of July 1, the local pop-up blood drive will be a thing of the past on the Blue Hill Peninsula. Photo by Unsplash.

March 2, 2026

By John Boit

PENOBSCOT—For more than four decades, Sylvia Tapley has found a sense of community by rolling up her sleeve.

The 75-year-old Penobscot resident has been donating blood since the 1980s, often a couple of times a year. Both of her brothers are regular donors, too. When pop-up blood drives organized by the American Red Cross came to town, it felt like a community gathering, she said.

“Blood is something anyone can donate,” Tapley said. “It makes us feel a part of everything. It makes us feel connected to our neighbors.”

This summer, that tradition will end in eastern and northern Maine.

The Red Cross has announced it will discontinue mobile blood drives in many parts of Aroostook, Hancock, Penobscot, Piscataquis, Somerset, Waldo and Washington counties, effective July 2026. The change will eliminate the familiar pop-up drives that rotate through town halls, schools and fire stations across rural communities, including those on the Blue Hill Peninsula.

In a statement, the Red Cross said the decision came after “careful consideration” and is driven by “logistical challenges and rising operational costs.”

“This change…helps ensure we use our resources efficiently while continuing to serve patients,” the organization said.

The Red Cross, a nonprofit organization, sells the blood it collects to hospitals–or rather, as it stated in a 2023 CNBC article, is “reimbursed by hospitals and transfusion centers for the costs associated with providing blood products.”

Red Cross regional communications director Jennifer Costa said the sale price of blood is “proprietary information.” Several news reports estimate the price between $150-300 per pint.

“Revenue and pricing for a unit (pint) of red blood cells from the Red Cross is proprietary information. Pricing is determined by purchase volumes by blood type, service levels and delivery requirements as well as other agreed upon terms with a hospital. Therefore, each hospital contract and associated pricing may be unique,” Costa said in an email to The Rising Tide.

According to the Red Cross website, the national organization saw $4 billion in revenues in its latest fiscal year, with $3.3 billion in total operations costs.

While the Red Cross is shutting down its mobile blood drives across the upper half of Maine, the organization’s website also has a call to action, highlighted in red, saying there is a “Severe Blood Shortage.”

“Donors are urgently needed now. Seconds count in emergencies, and it’s the blood on hospital shelves that help save lives.”

The Red Cross said that shutting down mobile blood drives “will not affect the availability and timely distribution of blood and blood products to our hospital partners and patients in need.”

The move will affect 13 employees who support mobile drives in the region. Some will be offered opportunities to transfer to the Bangor fixed-site operation, the organization said.

Donors on the Blue Hill Peninsula are now encouraged to give blood at the Red Cross Blood Donation Center at 900B Hammond St. in Bangor, which offers weekday and weekend hours, the organization said. Blood drives will continue in Belfast, Fairfield, Newport, Pittsfield and Skowhegan, according to the organization, but not in Hancock, Washington, or Aroostook counties.

Tapley said she understands the financial pressures behind the decision but worries about the impact on rural donors.

“It’s just the fact that once again we get shoved to the back of the room and aren’t heard,” she said. “A lot of Mainers feel like this is one thing we can do. And it is so rewarding to find out from the Red Cross that my blood was used that day for a patient in the hospital.”

She said the convenience of local drives made it easier for older residents and working families to participate. Traveling to Bangor can mean hours spent driving round trip for some donors in Hancock and Washington counties.

For local Red Cross volunteers, the announcement marks the end of an era. Josh Jones, a volunteer who has helped coordinate area drives, had been planning a blood drive in Penobscot for early July. But with the Red Cross ending such drives on July 1, he moved the date up to late June. It will be the town’s last Red Cross pop-up blood drive.

Following is a list of local blood drives that are still planned before the July 1 cutoff, according to the Red Cross website:

• Sedgwick Elementary School on March 4

• Orland Community Center on March 9 and May 11

• Maine Maritime Academy in Castine on March 13

• Blue Hill YMCA on April 30

• Penobscot Fire Department on June 27.

Donors may go to the Red Cross website to sign up.