Miller-Keystone Blood Center held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new bloodmobile in memory of Lehigh Valley resident, Wayne Leibensperger Jr.

Leibensperger Jr. was a healthy, 21-year-old man from Salisbury Township who died in 2014. He was an avid blood donor who donated faithfully every eight weeks. Although he is gone, his legacy will continue through the Wayne Leibensperger Jr. Memorial Blood Drives held throughout the region, and now through the Wayne Leibensperger Jr. Memorial Bloodmobile.

A bloodmobile is a mobile blood donation center. Traditionally a “bus,” it is equipped with everything necessary for the blood donation process. Blood drives utilizing bloodmobile vehicles usually happen in public places such as schools, colleges and churches.

According to officials at Miller-Keystone Blood Center, the addition of this new vehicle will allow the center to increase blood collections with the potential of impacting an additional 10,000 lives each year.

But while bloodmobiles are great vehicles for saving lives, they do not come inexpensively.

In 2015, the blood center’s development department implemented a campaign to raise funds toward the new vehicle, with a goal of raising $200,000. The Leibensperger family and friends were tireless in their fundraising efforts as well.