DaytonDailyNews.com

DAYTON — Businesses can help active-duty soldiers and local blood-transfusion patients by scheduling blood drives for Monday, Aug. 25, through Sept. 11 during Community Blood Center's Operation Double Impact.

For everyone who registers to donate, the center will send a soldier a snack or personal-care product such as shampoo. The center is working with Any Soldier (www.anysoldier.com) to fill the requests of about 100 soldiers in a unit to go to Iraq next month.

Many of them also requested pen pals, marketing manager Sher Patrick said, so, "donors will also be encouraged to write a note to a soldier."

Call (800) 388-4483 (1-800-388-GIVE) to schedule a blood drive or ask eligibility questions, which also can be e-mailed to canidonate@cbccts.org.