ELKIN — Greta Hinson of Elkin has won a $500 American Express gift card as one of the region’s Summer Sponsor Challenge winners. Hinson and her organization, Beta Sigma Phi, hold an annual blood drive at the Elkin Rescue Squad.

The Summer Sponsor Challenge is offered each summer by the American Red Cross. To qualify for the promotion, blood drive sponsors, such as Hinson and Beta Sigma Phi, must add a new drive between June and August and achieve 100 percent of collection goal or achieve a minimum of one hundred percent of an existing drive’s goal during the same period.

Beta Sigma Phi, a social and cultural organization, incorporates service as part of its activities. Ashley Gantt, American Red Cross donor recruitment representative with the Carolinas Blood Services Region, called Beta Sigma Phi, “a great organization to work with and Greta is always ready and willing to get the work done to make the blood drives an annual success.”

Hinson’s relationship with the American Red Cross first began in 2002, shortly after the sudden death of her husband, Robert Hinson. While at the Elkin Rescue Squad supporting a Red Cross blood drive, Hinson was approached by a friend about working with the American Red Cross. Hinson said, “I wanted then to get more involved, to help my community and to honor my husband. The Red Cross has allowed me to do all that and more.”

The Carolinas Blood Services Region of the American Red Cross provides lifesaving blood to 103 hospitals and must have 1,600 people give blood and platelets each weekday to meet patient demand.

For more information about blood donations and blood drives in the local area, please contact the Surry County Red Cross Chapter at 786-4183 or surrycountyredcross.org.