{"id":147994,"date":"2026-03-09T21:50:29","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T01:50:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=147994"},"modified":"2026-03-09T21:50:29","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T01:50:29","slug":"miller-keystone-blood-center-announces-2026-mkbc-impact-award-recipients","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/?p=147994","title":{"rendered":"MILLER-KEYSTONE BLOOD CENTER ANNOUNCES 2026 MKBC IMPACT AWARD RECIPIENTS"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>LEHIGH VALLEY \u2013 Officials at Miller-Keystone Blood Center have announced the recipients of its 2026 <strong>MKBC Impact Awards. <\/strong>The awards were presented during an event held on Tuesday, March 3, at DeSales University.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur Impact Awards were created as a way to say thank you and celebrate the incredible difference our blood donors, blood drive hosts, blood drive coordinators, funders, volunteers, and ambassadors make &#8211; not only for our organization, but for our entire community,\u201d said Rami Nemeh, President &amp; CEO of Miller-Keystone Blood Center.<\/p>\n<p>This year\u2019s Impact Award recipients include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>George Ashman Award for Blood Drive Coordinator of the Year:<\/strong><br \/>\nKevin Unger, St. Peter\u2019s UCC (West Lawn, PA)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Blood Drive of the Year \u2013 Business: <\/strong>Aman\u2019s Artisan Indian Cuisine (Easton, PA)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Blood Drive of the Year \u2013 Community: <\/strong>Kempton Excavating \/ Kempton Community Blood Drive (Kempton, PA)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Angela Hohl Award for High School Blood Drive of the Year: <\/strong>Bethlehem Area Vocational Technical School (Bethlehem, PA)<\/li>\n<li><strong>MKBC Volunteer of the Year: <\/strong>Shayne Murray (Easton, PA)<\/li>\n<li><strong>MKBC Ambassador of the Year: <\/strong>Sofia Groves (Allentown, PA)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"su-image-carousel  su-image-carousel-columns-3 su-image-carousel-has-spacing su-image-carousel-crop su-image-carousel-crop-4-3 su-image-carousel-has-lightbox su-image-carousel-has-outline su-image-carousel-slides-style-default su-image-carousel-controls-style-dark su-image-carousel-align-center\" style=\"max-width:100%\" data-flickity-options='{\"groupCells\":true,\"cellSelector\":\".su-image-carousel-item\",\"adaptiveHeight\":false,\"cellAlign\":\"left\",\"prevNextButtons\":true,\"pageDots\":true,\"autoPlay\":3000,\"imagesLoaded\":true,\"contain\":true,\"selectedAttraction\":0.007,\"friction\":0.25}' id=\"su_image_carousel_6a5883eb40639\"><div class=\"su-image-carousel-item\"><div class=\"su-image-carousel-item-content\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MKBC_26IA_Murray-Volunteer.jpg?fit=1920%2C1281&amp;ssl=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-caption=\"MKBC Volunteer of the Year: Shayne Murray (Easton, PA) PHOTO CREDIT:  Marco Calderon\" data-rel=\"lightbox-image-0\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\" title=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"474\" height=\"316\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MKBC_26IA_Murray-Volunteer.jpg?fit=474%2C316&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MKBC_26IA_Murray-Volunteer.jpg?w=1920&amp;ssl=1 1920w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MKBC_26IA_Murray-Volunteer.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MKBC_26IA_Murray-Volunteer.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MKBC_26IA_Murray-Volunteer.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MKBC_26IA_Murray-Volunteer.jpg?resize=1536%2C1025&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MKBC_26IA_Murray-Volunteer.jpg?w=948&amp;ssl=1 948w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MKBC_26IA_Murray-Volunteer.jpg?w=1422&amp;ssl=1 1422w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 474px) 100vw, 474px\" \/><span>MKBC Volunteer of the Year: Shayne Murray (Easton, PA) PHOTO CREDIT:  Marco Calderon<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/div><div class=\"su-image-carousel-item\"><div class=\"su-image-carousel-item-content\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MKBC_26IA_Unger-Coordinator.jpg?fit=1920%2C1281&amp;ssl=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-caption=\"George Ashman Award for Blood Drive Coordinator of the Year: Kevin Unger, St. Peter\u2019s UCC (West Lawn, PA)\n PHOTO CREDIT:  Marco Calderon\" data-rel=\"lightbox-image-1\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\" title=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"474\" height=\"316\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MKBC_26IA_Unger-Coordinator.jpg?fit=474%2C316&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MKBC_26IA_Unger-Coordinator.jpg?w=1920&amp;ssl=1 1920w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MKBC_26IA_Unger-Coordinator.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MKBC_26IA_Unger-Coordinator.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MKBC_26IA_Unger-Coordinator.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MKBC_26IA_Unger-Coordinator.jpg?resize=1536%2C1025&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MKBC_26IA_Unger-Coordinator.jpg?w=948&amp;ssl=1 948w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MKBC_26IA_Unger-Coordinator.jpg?w=1422&amp;ssl=1 1422w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 474px) 100vw, 474px\" \/><span>George Ashman Award for Blood Drive Coordinator of the Year: Kevin Unger, St. Peter\u2019s UCC (West Lawn, PA)\n PHOTO CREDIT:  Marco Calderon<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/div><div class=\"su-image-carousel-item\"><div class=\"su-image-carousel-item-content\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MKBC_26IA_Amans-BusinessBloodDr.jpg?fit=1920%2C1281&amp;ssl=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-caption=\"Blood Drive of the Year \u2013 Business: Aman\u2019s Artisan Indian Cuisine (Easton, PA)\n PHOTO CREDIT:  Marco Calderon\" data-rel=\"lightbox-image-2\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\" title=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"474\" height=\"316\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MKBC_26IA_Amans-BusinessBloodDr.jpg?fit=474%2C316&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MKBC_26IA_Amans-BusinessBloodDr.jpg?w=1920&amp;ssl=1 1920w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MKBC_26IA_Amans-BusinessBloodDr.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MKBC_26IA_Amans-BusinessBloodDr.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MKBC_26IA_Amans-BusinessBloodDr.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MKBC_26IA_Amans-BusinessBloodDr.jpg?resize=1536%2C1025&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MKBC_26IA_Amans-BusinessBloodDr.jpg?w=948&amp;ssl=1 948w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MKBC_26IA_Amans-BusinessBloodDr.jpg?w=1422&amp;ssl=1 1422w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 474px) 100vw, 474px\" \/><span>Blood Drive of the Year \u2013 Business: Aman\u2019s Artisan Indian Cuisine (Easton, PA)\n PHOTO CREDIT:  Marco Calderon<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/div><div class=\"su-image-carousel-item\"><div class=\"su-image-carousel-item-content\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MKBC_26IA_Groves_Ambassador.jpg?fit=1920%2C1281&amp;ssl=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-caption=\"MKBC Ambassador of the Year: Sofia Groves (Allentown, PA)\n PHOTO CREDIT:  Marco Calderon\" data-rel=\"lightbox-image-3\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\" title=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"474\" height=\"316\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MKBC_26IA_Groves_Ambassador.jpg?fit=474%2C316&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MKBC_26IA_Groves_Ambassador.jpg?w=1920&amp;ssl=1 1920w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MKBC_26IA_Groves_Ambassador.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MKBC_26IA_Groves_Ambassador.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MKBC_26IA_Groves_Ambassador.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MKBC_26IA_Groves_Ambassador.jpg?resize=1536%2C1025&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MKBC_26IA_Groves_Ambassador.jpg?w=948&amp;ssl=1 948w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MKBC_26IA_Groves_Ambassador.jpg?w=1422&amp;ssl=1 1422w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 474px) 100vw, 474px\" \/><span>MKBC Ambassador of the Year: Sofia Groves (Allentown, PA)\n PHOTO CREDIT:  Marco Calderon<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/div><div class=\"su-image-carousel-item\"><div class=\"su-image-carousel-item-content\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MKBC_26IA_Kwmpton-CommBloodDr.jpg?fit=1920%2C1281&amp;ssl=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-caption=\"Blood Drive of the Year \u2013 Community: Kempton Excavating \/ Kempton Community Blood Drive (Kempton, PA) PHOTO CREDIT:  Marco Calderon\" data-rel=\"lightbox-image-4\" data-rl_title=\"\" data-rl_caption=\"\" title=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"474\" height=\"316\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MKBC_26IA_Kwmpton-CommBloodDr.jpg?fit=474%2C316&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MKBC_26IA_Kwmpton-CommBloodDr.jpg?w=1920&amp;ssl=1 1920w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MKBC_26IA_Kwmpton-CommBloodDr.jpg?resize=300%2C200&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MKBC_26IA_Kwmpton-CommBloodDr.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MKBC_26IA_Kwmpton-CommBloodDr.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MKBC_26IA_Kwmpton-CommBloodDr.jpg?resize=1536%2C1025&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MKBC_26IA_Kwmpton-CommBloodDr.jpg?w=948&amp;ssl=1 948w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MKBC_26IA_Kwmpton-CommBloodDr.jpg?w=1422&amp;ssl=1 1422w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 474px) 100vw, 474px\" \/><span>Blood Drive of the Year \u2013 Community: Kempton Excavating \/ Kempton Community Blood Drive (Kempton, PA) PHOTO CREDIT:  Marco Calderon<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div><script id=\"su_image_carousel_6a5883eb40639_script\">if(window.SUImageCarousel){setTimeout(function() {window.SUImageCarousel.initGallery(document.getElementById(\"su_image_carousel_6a5883eb40639\"))}, 0);}var su_image_carousel_6a5883eb40639_script=document.getElementById(\"su_image_carousel_6a5883eb40639_script\");if(su_image_carousel_6a5883eb40639_script){su_image_carousel_6a5883eb40639_script.parentNode.removeChild(su_image_carousel_6a5883eb40639_script);}<\/script>\n<p>PHOTO CREDIT:\u00a0 Marco Calderon<\/p>\n<p>Information provided to TVL by:<br \/>\nMarie Clemens<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>LEHIGH VALLEY \u2013 Officials at Miller-Keystone Blood Center have announced the recipients of its 2026 MKBC Impact Awards. The awards were presented during an event held on Tuesday, March 3, at DeSales University. \u201cOur Impact Awards were created as a way to say thank you and celebrate the incredible difference our blood donors, blood drive &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/?p=147994\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">MILLER-KEYSTONE BLOOD CENTER ANNOUNCES 2026 MKBC IMPACT AWARD RECIPIENTS<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":147013,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[69,482],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-147994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-valley","category-press-release-2"],"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/miller-keystone.jpg?fit=672%2C372&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147994","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=147994"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147994\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/147013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=147994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=147994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=147994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}