Posts Tagged ‘donate blood’

Last week saw the final high school blood drives of the 2010 – 2011 school year. It’s been an incredible year for the Power of Life – altogether 587 high school blood drives collected 92,508 products – WOW!

One of the final high school blood drives of the school year took place last week at Endeavor High School, Channelview ISD’s School of Choice. Endeavor is a small campus that offers direct guidance and low student-to-teacher ratios for students who haven’t seen success in a traditional environment.

“We have a mostly at-risk population of students that have not always felt successful in their endeavors. Participating in the school blood drives gives them the opportunity to do something for other people without regard to their past history,” said school counselor and blood drive chairperson Karen Bryant.

Endeavor has been hosting blood drives with Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center since 2009, however Bryant admits she was reluctant to begin hosting blood drives because she wasn’t sure how much of an impact the small campus could make. However, her outlook quickly changed after she saw the impact on the campus.

“After the first blood drive, it was very clear that it benefitted the students,” Bryant said. “It gives them a sense of purpose and allows the students to experience success.”

Clearly, the students at Endeavor are eager to give back by donating blood; the school collects an average of about 50 products at each drive, and last week’s drive saw several first-time student donors. Juan Bellavides celebrated his 16th birthday by making his very first whole blood donation, and 17-year-old Ernest Garcia gave double red cells during his very first donation.

“There’s a first time for everything. If I needed blood, I would like someone to donate for me, so I wanted to give back,” Garcia said.

High school blood drives like Endeavor’s account for 20 percent of The Blood Center’s mobile collections, and the absence of these high school drives is one reason blood donations tend to decrease during the summer months. So, this summer, please follow in these dedicated students’ footsteps, and remember to donate!

Log in to Digital Donor to schedule your donation online.

Our friends at Starbucks in Missouri City have a sweet deal for blood donors today. The store is hosting a drive this afternoon and the first 20 donors will be entitled to a free beverage of their choice!

Stop by to help save lives and take advantage of this great offer.

WHERE:
Starbucks Coffee
5940 South Hwy. 6 at Murphy Road
(In the Target parking lot)
Missouri City, Texas 77459

WHEN:
Today - Thursday, March 31
1:30 to 5 p.m.

In the coming weeks, college students across the nation, including right here in Houston, will celebrate the legacy of Cesar E. Chavez by participating in the Third Annual National Cesar E. Chavez Blood Drive Challenge. Cesar E. Chavez was an American civic leader who dedicated his life to improving working conditions and quality of life for migrant and seasonal farming communities.

The challenge is hosted around the time of Chavez’s March 31 birthday and celebrates his legacy by engaging students in health education, health professions, civic engagement and saving lives. A team of student volunteers at each participating college campus coordinates a donor recruitment campaign culminating in a campus-wide blood drive.

Here in Houston, students in the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers at the University of Houston are entering the challenge by hosting an on-campus blood drive with Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center. The drive will take place on Thursday, March 24 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Cougar Den, and it is open to the community.

The national challenge winner is determined by the total number of donors, first-time donors, Hispanic donors and pints collected. Last year, another Texas school, The University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, was declared national champion, but the real winners are the communities.

In 2010, more than 100 schools participated in the challenge. Their blood drives collected more than 8,000 total units and attracted about 3,000 first-time donors. Those 8,000 units could help as many as 24,000 patients, and if those 3,000 first-time donors became Commit for Life donors by continuing to donate once a quarter, they could help as many as 36,000 patients every year!

Are you up to the challenge? Help save lives and show your support for the Cougars by coming out to the UH campus to donate next week.

Blood Drive Details:

When: Thursday, March 24 – 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Where: Cougar Den in University Center at the University of Houston

Schedule your appointment online through Digital Donor or by calling 1(888) 482-5663.

Yesterday, our friends at the Houston Museum of Natural Science held a blood drive, collecting 28 units in honor of Staff Sgt. Timothy Brown, a Marine who was seriously injured in Afghanistan. Brown received a Purple Heart on Feb. 23, personally awarded by President Barack Obama.

Timothy’s mother, Barbara Brown, works at the museum, and this is what she had to say about the outpouring of community support for her son:

“Everyone has so generously offered to help Tim, and your support and prayers have helped tremendously. One tangible thing we could all do is donate blood. Tim has received so many transfusions that his original blood has been replaced by donor blood, and he’ll need more with the continuing surgeries. What we each donate will not go directly to Tim, but will go to help others, just as other donors are helping him.”

We were touched by this eloquent, personal appeal for blood donations. Many people give blood for the first time because someone they know is a recipient, and Barbara’s positive outlook reminds us why it’s important to keep giving freely to help anyone in need.

Between Jan. 1 and March 31, The Blood Center encourages you to share your story with us through the “Continue the Commitment” promotion. If you have a story to share about why you Commit for Life or how blood donors have helped you, we encourage you to share it with us. 

Recently, the tragic story of Fort Bend Sheriff’s Deputy John Norsworthy inspired hundreds of Houstonians to donate blood. Deputy Norsworthy died on Jan. 4, due to complications from his December car accident, but during his week in the hospital, we saw an outpouring of community support in the form of blood donations. As doctors worked to try to save his life, Deputy Norsworthy received multiple units of blood. Determined to do something to help, hundreds in the greater Houston area turned out to donate blood in Norsworthy’s name. Because of their support, more than 650 units of blood were donated in Deputy Norsworthy’s honor.

Deputy Norsworthy’s story touched the hearts of many, including those who knew him well, and others who first heard his name when his accident was reported in the news. On a daily basis, more than 1,000 units of blood are needed to help patients like Deputy Norsworthy in the Texas Gulf Coast region. Blood donations take about 24 hours to process, and when a major medical emergency occurs, blood must be available immediately to transfuse to the patient. To ensure that an adequate supply of blood is always available for patients like Deputy Norsworthy, The Blood Center asks everyone who is eligible to Commit for Life by donating blood once a quarter.

While many people are inspired to donate blood when a heartbreaking story is publicized, it’s equally important to make a regular habit of donating for all of the anonymous patients that need blood every day. We hope that the many donors who gave blood in Deputy Norsworthy’s honor are inspired to become Commit for Life donors and continue giving blood once a quarter. To learn more about becoming a Commit for Life blood donor, or to find a donor center near you, please visit www.giveblood.org.