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NAS Shooting Reaction: Lord, On A Day Like Today, I Have Found A Reason To Be Thankful
December 7, 2019
When the call for blood donations went out following the mass shooting at NAS Pensacola Friday, the community responded in a huge way.
Jessica Simpson, vice president of the Pensacola Chamber of Commerce jumped in to help. She explains what she found at OneBlood, in her own words:
It started off quiet at OneBlood on 9th Avenue in Pensacola.
And then they started showing up.
Young flight students and other active duty service members from Pensacola NAS. The blood bank was so overwhelmed, all of the employees started screening and the soldiers started working the front desk.
It was all I could do to deliver snacks & drinks for them while Sara RuthAnn Lefevers buzzed the door open and Matt Simpson refilled the drink stock. (You both rock)
It was heart wrenching to see their faces and know they had lost friends.
One young lady & service member asked me to answer her cell phone when it rang (since she was answering One Blood phones) and her friend on the other end merely asked me to tell her he was alive. I’ve. Never. 
One young man offered to take the actual, filled blood bags in his back seat to the hospital for his friend.
Lord come quickly.
This is too much. I had to sit down. They are so young. And yet, they’ve been sitting here for hours and will sit until every last one gives all the blood they can.
I am changed by their love.
Lord, even on a day like today, I have found reasons to be thankful.
OneBlood will be open for donatiosn from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. Saturday at 1999 East Nine Mile Road and 2209 N 9th Ave. More info: www.oneblood.org
Comments
2 Responses to “NAS Shooting Reaction: Lord, On A Day Like Today, I Have Found A Reason To Be Thankful”
I reacted with a lot of anger after the shooting at NAS. Visions of 9-11 began dancing in my head and I wondered “how many times before we wise up and stop giving our enemies free rein?”
Then I read this article first thing this morning and my anger vanished. I was blinded by tears for awhile. Cause you see, this is America. All those people at OneBlood, they’re our people. And all the evil in the world can’t break us, if we stand together and let our God guide and direct us.
WOW!! I’ve never been so proud of the wonderful and giving area of this GREAT country I live in – the Pensacola area of Florida. It takes something like this tragedy to show us how grateful we should all be to be living here.