FRESNO, CA –  A promise made over ten years ago is kept with the groundbreaking of the new Central California Blood Center Corporate site Wednesday, September 3.

Central California Blood Center (CCBC) President and CEO Dean Eller promised his daughter Jenny the night she passed away from leukemia that her work to save lives through blood donation would not stop.

Dean didn’t know at the time how that heartbreaking but very special promise would come together, but, with the full support of his wife Claudia, he moved from mortgage banker and volunteer Blood Center spokesperson, to its CEO. In 1999, the plan for the “kept promise” began to form. With the need for more and more blood as well as increased demands for advanced, extensive testing; a new and much larger blood center became the goal and the dream.

The journey to the groundbreaking was not an easy one, however. There was, at first, a wonderful and generous gift of land near Children’s Hospital Central California, but the offsite challenges of the entire area created roadblock after roadblock, delaying the lifesaving project for over five years.  Other sites were considered, from Clovis to North and Central Fresno. And, along the way, a great many in the public and private sector tried to help but nothing seemed to meet the criteria.

All the while, Dean steadfastly hung onto “the promise.” With the help of Blood Center Senior Managers and staff, they, under his guidance and leadership, also turned the blood center around financially; from being in the red, in 1999, to being able to save and set aside $15 million dollars for the new construction.

The “promise kept” was further fulfilled as the Blood Center grew from not being able to adequately serve the five county area in 1999, to growing it’s net donations by more than 30,000 pints annually; no longer depending on other blood centers for help. In fact, now, when the Valley’s blood supply is strong and local hospitals are fully stocked, the Central California Blood Center can help others around the state and country that are short. Dean says, “This is what Jenny really wanted; to save lives.”

Jennifer Eller was an outstanding softball player whose senior year at Bullard High School, and very bright future, were abruptly altered when diagnosed with Leukemia.  She was able to live for almost four more years through the kind and generous blood donations of others. While she fought to live, she enjoyed life to the fullest, every day, as well as working for the Central California Blood Center as spokesperson and donor recruiter to help others also in need of transfusions.

The new Central California Blood Center was designed by Henderson Architectural Group. Michael R Tolladay Construction is the general contractor. Move-in is slated for fall 2009.

The Central California Blood Center is the sole provider of blood and blood products for the 31 hospitals in Fresno, Tulare, Madera, Kings and Mariposa Counties and must collect between 5,000 to 6,000 pints of blood a month to meet the needs of our Valley community and its 1.5 million residents.