QUEENSBURY, N.Y. – Like clockwork, Jerry Connolly says he makes an appointment to donate his blood four times a year.

“I’ve been doing it since high school," said Connolly, a retired middle school teacher from Glens Falls. "This is my fall; fall, winter, spring and summer. Four times a year."

On Monday Connolly was one of dozens saddling up to the American Red Cross' chairs during the Great Escape's annual Fright Fest Blood Drive.

“Everyone should get up and give,” Connolly said. “It only takes an hour and it is simple, painless, very easy to do. I am good at doing easy things.”

With the staff decked out in their spookiest Halloween makeup, Connolly wasn't the only one to notice this blood drive is a bit different.

"I don’t know what to think of it,” Connolly joked. “I haven’t made up my mind yet. It’s kind of cool."

"Our staff gets their makeup done by Six Flags and they are just a lot of fun to be around, so it is a really fun event," said Jill Ballou, an account manager with the Red Cross.

Aiming to collect 100 units, Ballou says the drive couldn't be more timely following Hurricane Florence in the Carolinas.

"It is estimated that we had about 200 blood drives canceled,” Ballou said. “In turn we probably lost around 5600 units of blood.”

As a thank you, the first 150 donors receive a free pass to the theme park's Fright Fest, which runs through October 28.

"Being such a key part of this area and being part of the local region, the Lake George region, we feel it is such an important thing that we give back to the community that gives so much to us,” Great Escape General Sales Manager Joe Bonavita said.

That spirit of giving back is what drove donors like Connolly here in the first place.

“We’ve been given so much across-the-board, so why not?” Connolly said.