WILMINGTON, Del. – Wilmington Brew Works brought in 28 donors in its Blood for a Brew campaign debut held Friday, June 28 with Blood Bank of Delmarva.

That translated into 26 units for Wilmington Brew Works’ first blood drive, Account Manager Gia Rivera said.

Blood donor smiling in the donation chair at the Wilmington Brew Works blood drive.

“They were awesome, and they have such a good following,” Rivera said.

Indeed, Tonda Ryder was one of the donors who got the message via Wilmington Brew Works’ social media. She’s new to the Wilmington area, and she quickly became a fan of the local brewery.

“We came here last weekend for the first time because I wanted to check out Wilmington Brew Works, and when I got home I followed them on Instagram,” Tonda said. “Then, I saw this [blood drive] pop up. I said, you know what? It’s been a long time since I gave blood. So, here I am.”

This blood drive had a couple’s theme going for it as well, as Mia Olson and Kevin Courtright, Elif Kaya and Fedayi Cebe, and Kristin Peers and Alan Price donated together, respectively.

Olson and Courtright are big fans of Wilmington Brew Works.

As for Peers, her husband, Price, works at Wilmington Brew Works.

“He mentioned that it was there,” she said. “It’s a Friday; let’s cut out early. It’s a nice day [to donate].”

Like other Wilmington Brew Works donors, Price said this blood drive was the catalyst for getting him back into the swing of things.

“When I saw it was going to be here, I realized I was a little behind with my next donation,” Price said.

For Kaya, she and her husband donated “to do something good.”

These donors were taken care of by the capable crew of Supervisor, Collections Daisy  Tannen, Blood Collection Techs Briyonni Brown, Shannon Quinn, Luis Bustos, and Trishona Faulcon, and Bloodmobile Driver Mike Majewski.