Lauderdale Drive Held On World Blood Donor Day

Follow CBSMIAMI.COM: Facebook | Twitter

FT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) - Blood drives continued drawing long lines across South Florida Tuesday as people tried helping the surviving victims of Sunday's massacre at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando.

It's ironic that Tuesday, June 14th is World Blood Donor Day.

A pre-planned blood drive behind City Hall in Ft. Lauderdale stayed busy from the moment OneBlood's "Big Red Bus" slid open its doors.

"I saw a big red bus," said Emily Biddulph, who was walking home when she suddenly saw the blood mobile.

In seconds she was in line to donate.  Biddulph told CBS4 Reporter Donna Rapado she had a special connection to Orlando, where she lived before moving to Ft. Lauderdale.

"I went to high school there," explained Biddulph.  "Pulse is one of the first gay clubs I went to when I came out of the closet.  It was supposed to be a place where we could have fun and be ok.  Be safe."

But hundreds weren't safe at Pulse Orlando nightclub Sunday when the FBI said 29-year old Omar Mateen started gunning down people indiscriminately before swat killed him in a gunfight.

"You wouldn't imagine someone would just go and just decide that he had the right to take that many lives," said Biddulph sadly.

But Mateen did take innocent lives.   He killed 49 people at the popular gay bar and wounded another 53.   It is the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.

Immediately after the shooting Sunday morning, people everywhere have lined up, like Emily did without hesitating, to help.

"It could save a life," she said.  "Donating blood could save another life and I think enough have passed away."

Two more blood drives are planned for Wednesday at the City Halls in Tamarac and Sunrise.  They start at 8 a.m.

The drive being held in the Fort Lauderdale City Hall parking lot is schedule to go on until 3 p.m Tuesday.

All donors will receive a OneBlood t-shirt, a pair of Marlins tickets and a wellness checkup including blood pressure and cholesterol screening. A second drive will be held June 24th.

OneBlood, which collects blood donations across much of Florida, continues to urge people to give blood in the wake of the Orlando nightclub massacre.