It was a record turn out for the 12th Annual Memorial Blood Drive for Matthew Kota at Notre Dame High School in Batavia today. Kota passed away after brain surgery in 2008 at the age of 17.
Matthew’s mom Nancy says Matthew would have been very proud to see this today, his birthday, he would have been 29 years old. Matthew was a volunteer for the Red Cross and would have been a senior at Byron Bergen High School. In 2009 Matthew’s aunt started the blood drive event.
Over the past 12 years, the Memorial Drive, the largest in Genesee County, has collected 650 units of blood. As of noon on Saturday, 61 people donated blood with 16 more waiting in line to donate.
There was also a bake sale and donations made to benefit the Matthew Kota scholarship fund.
