Within one year of its 1974 founding at the direction of the Richmond Academy of Medicine, Richmond Metropolitan Blood Service - now Virginia Blood Services (VBS) - took Richmond from a haphazard system of paid and volunteer blood sources to an all volunteer blood supply.

Virginia Blood Services...

1. Is a private, nonprofit, tax-exempt 501(c)(3) corporation providing patient services throughout Central Virginia. VBS is not affiliated with the American Red Cross.
2. Employs more than 280 people and annually conducts more than 2,700 blood drives and collects nearly 130,000 donations.
3. Supplies all hospitals in Richmond, Charlottesville, Farmville, Fishersville, Emporia, Harrisonburg, Hopewell, South Hill and the Staunton/Waynesboro area.
4. Provides the blood for nearly two thirds of the patients receiving organ transplants in Virginia.
5. Operates eight donor centers: two in Richmond and two in Charlottesville, along with others in Chester, Glen Allen, Fishersville, and Harrisonburg.
6. Is one of the largest volunteer efforts in Central Virginia. Last year nearly 70,000 volunteers donated blood with VBS.
7. Receives excellent inspection reports from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Medicare and AABB (formerly the American Association of Blood Banks).
8. Is governed by a volunteer board of directors made up of local medical and business leaders and counseled by a medical advisory committee comprised of prominent physicians.
9. Receives no governmental or United Way funding. Funding comes almost entirely from processing fees that are a portion of a patient's transfusion charges. These fees cover the cost of salaries, benefits, supplies, vehicles, laboratory equipment and other items required to make blood safe and available.
10. Is a member of America's Blood Centers, a 77-member organization of independent, nonprofit, regional blood centers that provide half of the nation's blood supply. The rest is supplied by the American Red Cross and hospital-based programs.
11. Is a member of Blood Centers of America, Inc., (BCA), whose members are community blood centers and provide 30 percent of the nation's transfusions. BCA's focus is on improving the operations and business activities of its member blood centers.