SUMMERDALE, Ala. (WKRG) — Baldwin EMC’s 18th annual Power of Giving drive potentially saved over 230 lives, according to event organizers.

LifeSouth Community Blood Centers, present on-site during the Nov. 9 drive, collected 79 donations from Baldwin EMC’s employees, members, and the community, according to an event news release. All donations will be directed to hospitals in southwest Alabama and the Florida panhandle.

Mark Ingram, vice president of corporate services and public relations at Baldwin EMC, expressed gratitude, stating, “We asked, and the community delivered! Every year, I am somehow still amazed by the generosity that pours in for our Power of Giving Drive.”

Baldwin EMC also honored local veterans with a supply drive. Donations, ranging from food to clothing, were gathered for the William F. Green Veterans Home in Bay Minette.

Those supplies will make a big impact, Ingram said.

“The supplies collected will make a difference in the lives of some of our local heroes,” he said. “It’s a small way we can say thank you for the sacrifices the veterans made for us to live in freedom.”

Baldwin EMC, a member-owned electric cooperative, serves over 87,000 accounts in south Alabama.

ALSO ON WKRG.com: Power of Prayer: Mobile Rabbi reflects on prayers with families of Hamas