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MUSIC SAVES LIVES, the trusted conduit between music, entertainment and important life-saving causes, is teaming up with the world famous Vans Warped Tour, and blood banks across the nation, to rally thousands of concert goers to give blood and sign up for the national bone marrow registry program. MUSIC SAVES LIVES will be at each stop on the Vans Warped Tour and every participant who donates blood onsite at the show gets a one-day backstage pass in addition to the opportunity to save someone’s life.

Last year, more than 3,000 people participated in the inaugural MUSIC SAVES LIVES blood drive at the Southern California Vans Warped Tour dates. To illustrate the power of this effort, the same time the year before, the American Red Cross blood collections with people under 25 was less than 300 donors. This year they have taken it nationwide and are looking for 10 times the donations as last summer. If successful this will be the largest summer collection program that targets youth under 25 in history.

This MUSIC SAVES LIVES drive is just one of many related to the ultimate goal of raising over 30,000 units of blood this summer in the USA. Every summer the blood supply across the nation drops to critical levels, primarily due to the fact that almost 30% of the blood supply comes from college and high schools. During the summer, when school is not in session, many areas in the nation suffer from a low blood supply. A low blood supply can result in postponed surgeries, and can be life threatening in critical trauma situations and to cancer patients after treatments. The American Red Cross and many other blood banks are participating in hope to encourage young blood donors to save as many as three lives by donating just one pint of blood.

By reaching out to concertgoers each night of the tour, MUSIC SAVES LIVES ultimately strives to register 3,000 new bone marrow donors. Registration only takes about 10 minutes using a simple and painless cheek swab, used for type matching of possible donors with leukemia patients waiting to be saved. All donors who register with DKMS Americas also become part of the WMDA (World Marrow Donor Association) and the NMDP (National Marrow Donor Program).

For information on MUSIC SAVES LIVES, please visit www.musicsaveslives.org. For Vans Warped Tour dates, check out www.warpedtour.com