January 14, 2026

By Lane Kimble

WAUKESHA — Her official record shows nearly four gallons donated.

Ann Neshek is convinced it’s much more than that, having given blood for more than 30 years at various clinics.

But the pint she donated Tuesday will especially stand out in her memory.

“It’s definitely on everybody’s mind,” Neshek told WTBA as she squeezed a rubber ball at Versiti Blood Center in Waukesha.

Neshek, who is Vice President of Arrow-Crete Construction, organized this year’s second-annual blood drive in honor of Priciliano “Nano” Alvarez and all construction workers killed in work zones.

A man driving a pickup truck hit and killed Alvarez while he worked along Highway 164 in Pewaukee in June 2024.

His coworker, Kyle Perkins, was severely injured and has needed five surgeries to repair his shattered legs. The driver also killed a 76-year-old woman in another car.

“A couple employees quit, they didn’t want to do this work anymore,” Neshek recalls of the period following the crash.

Neshek says she went and donated blood the day after the crash, which sparked the idea for an annual drive in Alvarez’s name.

“I didn’t know what else I could do but donate blood. Do something good for somebody else in need,” Neshek said.

Versiti blood centers across the state took appointments for the Arrow-Crete drive on Jan. 13.

You can expect Neshek back in this chair many more times before next year’s annual drive, too.

“It’s for a good cause… keeping everyone’s minds on what happened so that it doesn’t ever happen again,” Neshek said.