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Walk in, show an ID, choose a team, answer a few questions, have some blood drawn, eat pizza and cookies, then go home.
If you can do that, you can save a life this week by participating in the seventh annual Battle of the Badges blood drive.
"It's one of the simplest things you can do to really make a difference in a community," said Dan Kaiser, an officer with the Aberdeen Police Department. "When you donate blood, you are literally saving someone's life."
The Battle of the Badges is a competition between the Fraternal Order of Police and the Aberdeen Firefighters Local 446 designed to encourage people to donate blood to United Blood Services, said UBS manager Molly Vetter.
The event will take place from noon to 7 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday at the Eagles Club, 316 S. Second St.
Everyone who donates blood can choose between "team law" and "team fire" and get a free T-shirt to support their team, officer Amanda Buck said.
Whichever group has the most votes at the end of the drive wins bragging rights and a traveling trophy, Vetter said.
"It's a friendly competition between two organizations that work hand in hand with each other," said Lt. Mike Roemmich of Aberdeen Fire and Rescue.
Firefighters have won the competition five out of the past six years, Roemmich said. He has a theory on why firefighters will win once again.
"I think we'll take it again this year because we're generally all-around nice people. And we never write tickets," he said with a laugh.
The firefighters will bring some of their gear for children to play with while their parents donate blood, Kaiser said.
He said the gear was a good idea to attract donors, but it could unfairly skew the voting.
"They can bring their equipment for kids, which is great, but we can't really do the same because most our equipment is meant for adults and not exactly child-friendly," Kaiser said.
He would like his team to win, but his top priority is to get as many people as possible to donate blood, he said.
Eighty percent of people will need donated blood at some point in their life, but only 5 percent of the population donates blood, according to United Blood Services.
"I would ask folks to look around and realize how many people they know could need blood someday," Kaiser said.
The blood drive is absolutely critical to meeting the needs of area hospitals during the holiday season, Roemmich said.
Fewer people tend to give blood around this time of the year because they're busy preparing for the holidays and they tend to stay indoors during bad weather, Roemmich said.
But area hospitals are in constant need of blood, which is used in a variety of health procedures ranging from cancer treatment to helping a mother after she has a baby, according to UBS.
Roemmich said he hopes people will take a little time out of their day to give a gift that makes a monumental difference.
