Muralt's Travel Plaza, Missoula, Mont., hopes to again break records for truckstop blood drives this week as it joins more than 170 truckstops nationwide in the seventh annual Drive to Save Lives blood drive.

This is the seventh annual blood drive spearheaded by NATSO, the truckstop/travel plaza organization. Since its inception, the NATSO Drive to Save Lives has collected more than 22,000 units of blood.
Last year, Muralt's broke the national collection record for truckstops, collecting 232 usable units of blood, and received the NATSO "Award of Merit" for the second year in a row. The five-day drive will get under way Monday, Sept. 25 at noon and continue through Friday, Sept. 29, at 2 p.m.
Local company Jim Palmer Trucking last year had 43 out of 55 local employees sign up for the drive. "It's a great opportunity for a company like ours to give back to the community," said President Scott Palmer. "We safely log 30 million miles a year and see accidents occur often, so we know how much the blood is needed to save lives."