The Kentucky Blood Center is expanding one of its partnerships for more life saving donations.

The center works with the Milbank and recently milk Bank, rather, and recently announced it has opened a new drop off location for milk donations to help give more premature and sick babies the chance to survive and thrive.

Our only job is to help more babies celebrate their first birthday, and we do that by carefully screening and collecting and distributing seeds.

Pasteurized donor human milk, primarily to nbcu's, across the Midwest, but also accessible on an outpatient basis.

For those most medically vulnerable babies.

The milk we dispense is, often the difference in great health outcomes and sometimes the difference, in survivability.

It's definitely helping babies.

I think that's the big thing.

And like, not only am I feeling my son, but I'm also helping.

The younger baby is not needed in the queue and all that, and I'm supporting that and it just keeps me going.

It makes me want to keep donating blood.

Center currently has milk depots and seven of our donor centers.

That's two in Lexington, two in Louisville, one in Pikeville, one in Somerset and one in Frankfort.

And so we've been able to add those at each of those donor centers.

And we're hoping to expand the partnership a little bit further this summer.

The Kentucky Blood Center and their milk drop off is really, convenient for me as a full time mom and as well as a full time employee because they are open on entire days.

It's really just meant to be an easy access point for moms who are already generously donating.

Having these convenient drop off points, just takes, one of the barriers away from them, from having to ship their milk.

So since we began partnering, with the milk Bank several years ago, we've been able to provide nearly a half a million feeding clinic babies just from people who have donated breast milk at our milk depots, which is remarkable.

And I think they said, you know, initially they were 3 or 4 milk donors in Lexington.

And after we started the partnership, they tripled their number of donors.

And in a matter of weeks, every ounce is precious.

We say every ounce counts.

Because it's a gift only, milk donors can give.

And it's a, it's often a gift.

That they're giving to families that they won't meet, but they're changing their lives and providing them hope, to go home, which is incredible.

So I want to make clear that there isn't a minimum, to give, but, really, we're averaging almost 600oz per milk donor, which is an extraordinary amount of work and commitment.

And, so these milk donors are true life savers.

It's really rewarding.

I guess that's the best part.

I can put it like, I just, I when I was first donating, I remembered, that I actually did donor milk with my daughter when she was in the hospital, and it was like it clicked for me and I was like, oh, you know, I remember doing that with her.

So yeah, I just I feel like it's such a good thing that I can help other mothers.

And their journey too.

So moms are incredible.

That's my favorite part about the milk Bank is I think we have this kind of community of moms that say, no, mom stands alone.

The Kentucky Blood Center says since its partnership with the milk Bank began in 2021, nearly half a million feedings have been provided to premature and sick infants in the region.