Since that first drive, Bob Kaufman and his sister, Ilene, along with others in Bob's senior management team, found a variety of ways to make their blood drives more attractive to donors. They added paid media support from a variety of Connecticut TV and radio stations, which, in turn, brought food to rival a holiday feast. Themed blood drives were also an important part of the mix.

By November 2002, ten different Bob's Discount Furniture stores had run 33 blood drives for a total of 2,022 pints of blood.

As donor participation in these blood drives increased, so did support from the Kaufman's, who found themselves facing two medical crises within their own family that required regular blood transfusions. Though both Bob's father, Leo Kaufman, and his 16-year-old nephew, Scott Mulready, have passed away due to their respective illnesses, the Kaufman family remains thankful for the extra quality time spent with each of them made possible, in part, by blood donors across New England.

The business, meanwhile, has grown to include stores in Massachusetts, Maine and New Hampshire. Because of their personal ties to the community blood supply and their previous blood drive successes in Connecticut, the Kaufman's were now more determined than ever to expand blood collections in these states.

Enter: The Bob Squad

On December 23, 2002, the Kaufman family and the employees of Bob’s Discount Furniture hosted a 14-site blood drive, yielding 766 pints of blood for hospital patients across New England. For their part, the Kaufman’s put the weight of radio and TV advertising toward promoting the drive and raising awareness about the constant need for blood.

On June 29, 2005, twenty Bob’s Discount Furniture stores in four New England states again combined for a massive memorial drive in honor of Leo Kaufman and Scott Mulready yielding 1168 useable units of blood.

In an effort to reach into the community, and maximize the natural resource of blood, the Bob's Discount Furniture senior management team has stepped forward to sponsor this event twice each year, added general blood awareness commercials to their regular TV and radio advertising rotation year-round, invited the community to become Bob Squad members, and challenged other businesses in New England to follow their lead.