Singing for Life

"Our goal is 140 pints for Dollard des Ormeaux, but we hope that we could do a lot more," explained Bob Ebers from the Barbershop Harmony Society, a North America-wide group that approached different choirs and choruses as well as blood collection agencies to put the Singing For Life event together in 175 cities across the USA. and Canada.

The idea for a blood drive day set to singing came to Ebers after he and other members from BHS decided to make good on their wish to do more for the community. The society then approached various groups around different cities in North America.

Montreal City Voices is one of the choirs that will be performing Saturday. "Part of what we do is we support charities in the Montreal area," said Heather Solomon, head of the choir, with the group returning fresh from a fourth-place overall ranking at an international competition in Maine.

Montreal City Voices will be performing from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the day of the drive, and another group, the West Island Chorus (WIC), will pick up the slack a mere half hour later.

"I think it's good exposure for the barbershop harmony," said Bonnie MacLeod from the WIC.

She added she was looking forward to being part of an international event.

According to Ebers, BHS is expecting to collect a total of 15,000 pints of blood across the USA and Canada on Saturday. The society would be willing to put together similar events for the next five years if all goes well, he said.

"It's normal for organizations to redo their blood drives the next year if the first one is successful," said Laurent-Paul Ménard, director of communications for Hema Quebec. Ménard encouraged people to come out for the drive. "There is an enormous amount of people who need blood," he said. "It really is a gift that you are making to people. It's completely safe."

According to Ménard, over a 1,000 transfusions a day are necessary only to keep up with demands by hospitals in Quebec. "There is no substitute for blood. It's irreplaceable," he added.