Carter Bloodcare bus for mobile blood donation

Blood Drives

The Jalapeno Tree teams with Carter BloodCare to serve support for East Texans

October 9, 2025

Family-owned Mexican food restaurant hosts blood drives to help local patients

Tyler, Texas (Oct. 9, 2025) – The Jalapeno Tree invites East Texans to help neighbors in need by donating blood at Carter BloodCare drives in October.

As special thanks for giving, each donor will receive a $10 gift card from The Jalapeno Tree.

Blood drives take place at these Jalapeno Tree locations:

Carthage: 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. Monday, Oct. 13, at 510 W. Panola St.
Marshall: 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 14, at 1000 E. End Blvd. South
Longview: 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. Monday, Oct. 20, at 508 North Eastman Road
Athens: 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. Monday, Oct. 20, at 1112 E. Tyler St.
Tyler: 11 a.m. – 6 p.m. Monday, Oct. 27, at 420 W. SW Loop 323
Mineola: 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. Monday, Oct. 27, at 416 E. Broad St.
Canton: 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. Monday, Oct. 27, at 17270 I-20 Frontage Road
Mount Pleasant: 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. Monday, Oct. 27, at 2506 W. Ferguson Road
Palestine: 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 30, at 2300 TX 256 Loop

Photo of assembled employees at The Jalapeno Tree, a family owned Mexican food restaurant in East Texas

The East Texas blood drives come at a crucial time. Heading into the year-end holiday season, volunteer blood donations can drop. This seasonal slump occurs for a number of reasons: High schools – whose student donors contribute 25% of all local blood – do not hold blood drives during the extended holiday break; many donors are unavailable due to travel and family commitments; and other volunteers delay donating during the hustle and bustle of holiday planning and preparations.

The need for blood, however, never takes a break. Patients throughout East Texas need lifesaving blood at all hours of every day. In fact, a blood transfusion occurs every two seconds in the United States.

Patients in urgent need of blood include children fighting cancer, people severely injured in traffic accidents, mothers going through difficult childbirths, organ transplant and hip surgery patients, people receiving treatments to battle blood disorders, older patients with age-related health issues, and many others who need the community’s help.

Carter BloodCare’s health care professionals say all blood types are currently needed, especially type O negative. As the universal blood type, O negative can be used to treat any patient; this is crucial in an emergency when the patient’s blood type may not be immediately known.

In addition, O negative is the only blood type that is used to support premature and unborn babies.

Blood transfusion is made possible by volunteer donors. Donors can begin giving blood at age 16 with parental consent; those 17 and older can donate on their own. Eligible donors also must weigh at least 110 pounds and feel well on the day of donation.

For details and to pick a convenient time to donate at The Jalapeno Tree events, visit C a rterBloodCare.org or call 800-366-2834.

About Carter BloodCare

Carter BloodCare is an independent, community blood center providing transfusion resources to more than 200 medical facilities in 57 counties of North, Central and East Texas. The nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization is one of the largest blood programs in Texas, delivering more than 440,000 blood products annually to meet hospitals’ requirements for their patients. Services include collection, processing, specialized laboratory testing, storage and distribution of blood and blood products. Tu centro de sangre comunitario.