‘Raise a pint (of blood)’ to honor retired church director

On Monday, Oct. 7, a blood drive will be held at Our Lady of the Snow from 10:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.

The blood drive is being held by the church to honor newly retired employee Diana Mongan, who has dedicated 25 years to the Bayport-Blue Point community.

Mongan began at Our Lady of the Snow volunteering at the Social Parish Outreach, a food pantry that serves those in need in the community.

After five years as a volunteer, Mongan went on to become the director for the next 20 years. One of her roles as director was to facilitate the annual blood drive working with the New York Blood Center.

Since 2011, Mongan and the New York Blood Center collected 1,300 pints of blood and helped save over 4,000 lives during this annual drive.

“When I took over facilitating the blood drive with the New York Blood Center, I sat down with Melissa Gatto of the New York Blood Center and spoke with Fr. Kevin M. Smith, the Pastor of Our Lady of the Snow, and we came up with the idea of honoring Diana because she worked tirelessly for Outreach and our community,” Marlene Tully, the pastoral associate of OLS, said, “I said, we should raise a pint (of blood, of course) to Diana!”

The blood drive will be held Oct. 7 between 10:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m.; you can call 800.933.2566 or contact Melissa at mgatto@nybc.org.