Staff photos by Gage Cureton One-hundred forty blood-donation appointments were scheduled for the American Red Cross Bloodmobile at Vogel Arena Wednesday. Unscheduled walk-ins were also accepted.

NEW ULM — The American Red Cross Bloodmobile visited Vogel Arena Wednesday afternoon to accept much needed blood donations from New Ulm area residents.

One-hundred forty appointments were scheduled for Wednesday with many members of the community showing up unannounced.

The blood drive collected 172 units at Vogel Fieldhouse Wednesday, surpassing its goal of 149 units.

Pins were awarded to Arlyn Schultz, 16 gallons; Bill Furth, 11 gallons; Jack Minch, Rick Christiansen and Kevin Kelstad 10 gallons; and Myron Isaacson, seven gallons.

Jen Goodburn, blood technician team lead, said Thursday’s goal is 107 procedures with 127 units of blood collected. Friday’s goal is 73 procedures with a total of 89 units collected.

According to the American Red Cross, every two seconds someone in the United States needs blood, and approximately 36,000 units of red blood cells are needed every day.

The Bloodmobile will remain at Vogel Arena accepting appointments and walk-ins from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Thursday and 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Friday.

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Fritz Busch contributed to this story.