2018 shout-outs and the battle of sausage rolls vs. party pies

It’s always good to reflect on the year that has been. You might have even seen our counter on social media showing that generous Australians donated more than 1,390,000 times in 2018. It’s an absolutely amazing effort, and it got us thinking about even more numbers. We did a deep dive into the stats to see just how incredible our donors are! 

The centre that collected the most donations…

Melbourne CBD. Turns out, Melbournians love their coffee, AFL and giving blood! The bloody legends who popped into the Collins Street centre last year donated a whopping 77,418 times.

The number of O Negative donations made…

It takes all types of blood to keep Australian hearts beating, but O neg is a very special type of blood that we need. Last year our amazing O neg donors made 154,000 donations!

If you have O neg blood you have the universal blood type. It means that anyone can have your blood, so it’s especially important to have on hand in emergency situations when medical staff don’t have time to test a patient’s blood type.  If you don’t know your blood type, you can come in to donate and find out if you’re part of just 9 per cent of the population with this magical blood!

Plasma donations made...

In 2018 our donors generously gave 679,000 plasma donations! Plasma is full of special proteins that can help treat serious burns, brain disorders or immune conditions. And the best part is you can donate plasma every two weeks!

Food fight: sausage roll vs. party pie

It’s a battle that is waged at every birthday party, morning tea, and work catering discussion: what to choose, a party pie or sausage roll? Maybe you’ve even been to an event where they only had one or the other, or worse yet maybe none at all?! *shudders*. There are few things more satisfying than settling down in the refreshments area after your donation and wrapping your lips around a soft sausage roll or thermonuclear party pie.

All this talk is making us hungry, so without further ado the winner is:

The humble sausage roll! Our donors consumed 473,000 sausage rolls — but the party pies were not far behind at 420,000.

Biscuit vs. fruit

It’s a slightly less controversial battle, but we don’t want them to feel left out. Last year our amazing donors snacked on 3.6 tonnes of fruit (enough to supply Perth Zoo for three weeks), but it wasn’t enough to beat out some delicious biccies, coming in at 26.5 tonnes!