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Have you submitted your story in our Continue the Commitment promotion yet? Every two weeks, one story will be chosen to be featured here in the Commit for Life Blog, and its author will receive 500 Commit for Life store points. Participants may also be recruited to participate in our Commit for Life campaign photo shoot and be featured in our calendar, awareness ads, brochures and more – just like these individuals who shared their stories in 2011.

Our first story comes from Debra Prestifilippo, who began donating in 2006 when her daughter’s cross-country teammate was diagnosed with leukemia. Mother and daughter donated together, and now Prestifilippo continues her commitment by making blood donation a social activity.

“I belong to a group of women we call The Blood Sisters. Most of us are moms who know each other through our sons’ baseball team, but several of us have included other friends as well,” Debra says. ”Every eight weeks we make our appointments for around 5 p.m. When we are all finished donating, we go out to dinner. The dinner part makes it fun so we will continue to donate every time we are eligible. We average about six women each time.”

We think getting friends involved is a great way to make donating blood fun while saving more lives. Thank you, Debra, for sharing this great idea, and for all you do to help patients in our region. The Continue the Commitment promotion continues through March 31. If you have a story about what Commit for Life means to you, we would love to hear it!

Over the past few years, North Forest High School has become one of Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center’s superstar groups. Since Forest Brook and Smiley High Schools (the two schools that merged to form North Forest High School) worked together to hold a joint blood drive in 2007, the students have embraced The Power of Life high school blood drive program, saving thousands of lives.

Their tradition of helping others continues in 2012, as the campus hosted a drive Jan. 13 that brought in 86 products – higher than their previous average! The school is hoping to host two more drives during the spring semester so students can make the most of their opportunities to save lives.

The blood drive program at North Forest has not only provided an opportunity for the students to give back to their community, but has also served to reinforce the importance of proper nutrition. After a high number of students were being repeatedly deferred from donating due to low iron, North Forest began to educate its students on nutrition, even creating a vegetable garden in 2010 for the 4-H students to cultivate. The school also hosted cooking demonstrations using some of the ingredients grown in the garden, encouraging students to eat healthier and boost their iron.

On behalf of the patients who have benefited from all of these efforts, thanks to North Forest High School for a great partnership!

Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center has been serving the greater Houston community since Jan. 1, 1975, and our name and logo are familiar to many throughout the region.

Still, it was a surprise when a kind stranger brought this pin to the Baytown Neighborhood Donor Center. The pin is simple – just a flower and three small diamonds – and has no name or label to identify the owner or origin. Yet, the stranger who found it recognized The Blood Center’s logo and kindly thought to return it to us.

As it turns out, this pin was one of just a few given to some of the first employees to celebrate their 30-year anniversaries with The Blood Center. Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center is proud to be a workplace where many employees commit for careers spanning 20-plus years. In fact, The Blood Center’s first President and CEO, Bill T. Teague, led the organization for 31 years, before retiring in 2006.

Though the full story behind this pin remains a mystery, it’s a charming reminder of the impact Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center has made in the lives of patients, donors and employees over the last 36 years and counting.

The “Reindeer Brigade” prepares to deliver teddy bears to patients at Texas Children’s Hospital.

This year, thanks to popular demand, our annual Holiday Hugs promotion was expanded to include the month of November, as well as December. The Holiday Hugs promotion is unique because it brings extra joy to so many different groups of people – not only to our Commit for Life donors, but to our hospital partners, to their patients and to our employees as well.

On Saturday, Nov. 19, Blood Center volunteers gathered in the Headquarters Auditorium to tie notes of well-wishes to hundreds of teddy bears. This year, the first shipment of bears was sent out in time for hospital staff to pass on the Holiday Hugs to patients spending Thanksgiving in the hospital.

Each year, Blood Center employees also have the opportunity to brighten the holiday season for local patients by hand-delivering teddy bears as part of The Blood Center’s “Reindeer Brigade.”

“Seeing the big smiles on the kids’ faces when we handed them their bears was priceless – it reminds me why the work I do here every day is so important,” said Donor Recruitment Coordinator Kim Parker, who delivered Holiday Hugs to Texas Children’s Hospital on Nov. 29.

The Reindeer Brigade will be making several more visits to hospitals in the Texas Medical Center before Christmas. Next year, gold-level Commit for Life donors will also have the opportunity to deliver teddy bears with the Reindeer Brigade – click here to learn more.

If you haven’t submitted your note of well-wishes yet, there’s still plenty of time! Just make an appointment to donate this month. Thank you to everyone involved in making the Holiday Hugs promotion such a success year after year!

As you know, our Holiday Hugs promotion runs through November and December this year – just look at some of the sweet, creative notes donors have written already!

On Saturday, Nov. 19, several Blood Center volunteers spent their Saturday morning with us, tying the first batch of Holiday Hugs notes to cuddly teddy bears. The first group of Holiday Hugs teddy bears has already been delivered, just in time to provide holiday cheer to patients spending Thanksgiving in the hospital.

If you haven’t participated in Holiday Hugs yet, there’s still time! Just make an appointment to donate in November or December and write a note of well-wishes on the card the Blood Center staff gives to you. Your words and life-saving generosity will brighten a patient’s holiday season!