Joyce Hansen Legacy Blood Drive returns to Indian Falls Creek
Second annual drive honors the Cherokee Nation citizen and nurse who helped start the camp’s blood collection tradition.
Monday, July 27,2026 | 9AM – 5PM | Indian Falls Creek
Tuesday, July 28,2026 | 9AM – 5PM | Indian Falls Creek
By Cara Cowan Watts, Cherokee411.com
DAVIS, Okla. — The Joyce Hansen Legacy Blood Drive returns to Indian Falls Creek (IFC) on Monday and Tuesday, the second year the annual two-day drive has carried the name of the Cherokee Nation citizen and Salina nurse who helped build it.
Our Blood Institute (OBI) will collect donations from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, July 27, and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday, July 28, at Indian Falls Creek. Appointments may be scheduled through the blood center’s donor portal at yourbloodinstitute.org.
The drive falls midway through the 79th IFC assembly, running July 26-30 at the Falls Creek Conference Center in Davis.
‘You were the founder’
Joyce Ann Hansen died unexpectedly May 12, 2025, at age 63. OBI describes her as one of the original organizers of the annual IFC blood drive. Her family calls her its founder.
Her daughter, Jade Hansen Vann, asked the blood center to rename the summer 2025 drive in her mother’s honor, and OBI agreed. The name has carried forward into 2026.
“Here we are momma, a second year of IFC without our sponsor, head cook, board member, etc.,” Hansen Vann wrote in a Facebook post ahead of this year’s drive. “As I ran background checks and helped the church get ready for camp I thought of how you did all this with ease.”
“You were the founder, you helped saved many lives and that’s a legacy you left for us to continue,” she wrote, adding that the drive drew 59 first-time donors last year and that the family is praying for more this summer. She described the event as the largest two-day blood drive in Oklahoma.
Hansen Vann also noted the coincidence of her mother sharing a promotional poster with Oklahoma City Thunder forward Jaylin Williams: “Who knew you and J-Dub would share the same poster.”
The 2025 drive collected 161 units of blood, exceeding the camp’s goal, according to the Baptist Messenger of Oklahoma.
A nurse, a preacher’s wife and a camp cook
Hansen was raised in Salina and graduated from Salina High School. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Tulsa and retired from Claremore Indian Hospital after a career in patient care.
She married Woody Hansen on Oct. 16, 1999, and supported his ministry as a preacher’s wife. She was an active Member of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Claremore, where she served as song leader, and volunteered for many years at IFC.
Her obituary remembers her fry bread and her cooking for family at the creek. Her funeral service was held May 19, 2025, at the Woody Hair Community Center in Kenwood, and she was buried at Dry Creek Cemetery in Delaware County.
Hansen was preceded in death by her parents, Willis “Louie” Mouse and Emma Ballou Mouse; her sister, Diana Mouse-Buiting; and her daughter, Jenny Dawn Mouse. She is survived by her husband, of Jay; sons Michael Wehbe and Jacob Hansen; daughters Kelsie Kotzur, Jade Vann, Makenzie Hansen and Lani Hansen; three brothers, Jefferson Mouse, John Wayne Mouse and James Edward Mouse; and 13 grandchildren.
Every donor gets a shot at a seat with JWill
This year’s IFC drive is part of OBI’s campaign with Williams, known to fans as “JWill,” who grew up in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and won a National Basketball Association (NBA) title with the Thunder in 2025.
At participating JWill drives, OBI says donors receive a limited-edition Williams donor T-shirt while supplies last and a ticket to a theme park of their choice, and are entered for a chance to attend an exclusive, live 60-minute question-and-answer session with Williams. Promotional material for the IFC drive pictures Frontier City and Magic Springs tickets.
Anyone in good health who is 16 or older may give blood. OBI says a donation typically takes about an hour and that one donation can save up to three lives. The blood center describes itself as the seventh-largest independent blood center in the nation, with 17 donor centers across Oklahoma, Arkansas and Texas.
About Indian Falls Creek
IFC began in 1947 and has been called the largest gathering of Native American Christian believers in North America. The family camp draws churches representing more than 50 Tribal Nations from across North America.
Mike Keahbone — Comanche, Kiowa and Cherokee — pastor of First Baptist Church in Lawton, serves as camp pastor for 2026. This year’s emphasis draws on the Gospel call to “love kindness.” More than 2,400 campers took part in the 2025 assembly.
Each evening service features Tribes represented at camp singing a Gospel hymn in their own languages. Volunteers run much of the camp’s programming — the role Hansen filled for years.
How to donate
Appointments for both days are available through OBI at yourbloodinstitute.org. Drive information is posted at ourbloodinstitute.org/events/joyce-hansen-legacy-blood-drive.
