Rachel Ovaginian shows her son, Cameron, a valentine made for them by a donor from the Kraft Family Blood Donor Center.

More than 100 donors from the Kraft Family Blood Donor Center at BWH and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute sent their love and well wishes to babies and their families in the Brigham’s NICU this Valentine’s Day.

Donors came to the KFBDC on Feb. 10 and 11 to sign Valentine’s Day cards for NICU patients and families, as well as for pediatric patients receiving care at Dana-Farber’s Jimmy Fund Clinic. The event culminated with a blood and platelet drive at the center on Feb. 11.

BWH nurses distributed the cards – along with handmade ones the unit’s staff had also created – to families on Valentine’s Day.

The holiday season between November and December is a popular time for giving back, but the need for blood and platelet donation is constant, said Justin Solle, blood donor recruiter with the KFBDC.

“We look at Valentine’s Day as a way to connect with our younger patients and get our donors more involved,” Solle said. “The donors give blood and platelets, and they don’t always see the outcomes of the great work they’re doing. This is another way to bring them a little closer to that.”