Posts Tagged ‘Neighborhood Donor Center’

While donating his 100th gallon, Speight chats with his mother, Ceole Speight, who was recently a blood recipient herself during open heart surgery.

On Tuesday, Jan. 10, 61-year-old Montgomery resident Glenn Speight became the 23rd blood donor in the Texas Gulf Coast region to reach the 100-gallon donation mark. Speight has been donating for more than 30 years and on Tuesday, made his 800th donation.

“I first donated with my dad because a friend of his needed blood,” Speight said. “The donor center staff asked me to come back – before that I’d never thought of donating blood as a regular thing. I’ve seen firsthand how blood donations help save lives, and I’ve just made a habit of donating.”

In his 30-plus years of donating, Speight has helped save countless lives in our community, and he’s now part of three generations of giving, as his own son is a blood donor too. Speight usually donates platelets– a blood component that is often used to help cancer patients. Because the body produces platelets faster than other blood components, they can be given frequently – every seven days up to 24 times a year – which allowed Speight to accrue an incredible record of giving.

Last year, Speight, an Operations Manager at CenterPoint Energy, made it his goal to reach the 100-gallon donation mark before either he – or his longtime boss – retired. CenterPoint Energy is a big supporter of saving lives through blood donations, hosting nearly 200 blood drives with Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center every year. When Speight made his 100-gallon donation, friends, family, co-workers, Blood Center staff, and his boss all gathered at the Bill T. Teague Neighborhood Donor Center to help celebrate.

Today’s blog entry comes from Tresha Hattar, a Blood Center volunteer with the Sugar Land Community Advocates. Promoting your local Neighborhood Donor Center as a Community Advocate is one of many volunteer opportunities available at The Blood Center. Below, Tresha explains what she enjoys most about her volunteer work and how other Blood Center volunteers have become like family to her.

Aloha! A few of the Sugar Land Community Advocates at their Luau-themed blood drive on Sunday, July 17. From left: Mike Baker, Carol Shields, Tresha Hattar and Ed Roebuck.

I volunteer with the Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center as a Community Advocate because it feels like the right thing to do and I really enjoy and care for the fellow advocates. The Sugar Land Neighborhood Donor Center opened in 2003 and soon after that I became part of the advocate group. We are volunteers that promote the need for blood donations in our community and spread the word about the Neighborhood Donor Center. We always enjoy ourselves when we get together  to plan blood drives, volunteer at The Blood Center, volunteer at health fairs or attend educational, training sessions through The Blood Center. We are like family! We have a common interest and bring all of our differences together for the good of the common goal. We share our personal and family achievements and concerns. We have attended weddings, baby showers, funerals and recognitions to support each other. 

It is an honor to volunteer with this group of amazing people who give up their time to help save the lives of others. At our most recent blood drive we decided to have a little more fun and create a theme for the drive. One of our advocates who was unable to attend the drive came in before she left town and decorated the donor center waiting area like a Hawaiian luau – it was amazing. We all wore our Hawaiian shirts and each donor received a lei and T-shirt for attempting to donate. A good time was had by all. My 3-year-old son, Jordan, even bowled with our luau-themed bowling set: pineapple pins and a coconut bowling ball. The thing I enjoy most about our community advocate blood drives is the opportunity to visit with our regular donors and educate our new donors about the Commit for Life benefits.

Would you like to become a Community Advocate at your local Neighborhood Donor Center? Send us an email at volunteering@giveblood.org or give us a call at (713) 791-6262 – we’d be happy to have you join us as a Commit for Life Volunteer!

Finding a convenient mobile blood drive or Neighborhood Donor Center is now easier than ever, as an updated version of the Find a Location page on www.giveblood.org launched on July 5. Access the Find a Location page through the Where to Donate menu at the top of the page.

This new, user-friendly feature functions much like Google Maps. While the previous Find a Location page displayed only Neighborhood Donor Centers, the new version of the page also displays mobile blood drives open to the public taking place over the next 18 days.

Screen capture of the Find a Location page. Click on the image to visit the page.

Selecting a date on the calendar will display only the open donor centers and mobile drives for that date. Clicking on any donor center or mobile drive icon on the map will bring up more information about that location, including links for directions and scheduling an appointment.

We hope that you find this to be a useful tool that makes it even easier for you to Commit for Life. Remember, you have through July 31 to earn double points for every donation, so find a location near you and come out to help save lives this month!

Congratulations to our Gold Cup Promotion winner, Robert Nieves of Pasadena! This evening, Rob will be watching his very first live soccer games as the United States and Honduras face off against Panama and Mexico in the CONCACAF Gold Cup Semifinal Doubleheader at Reliant Stadium.

Rob’s apheresis donation on June 9 at the Pasadena Neighborhood Donor Center qualified him for the random drawing. “My mother had cancer, so I’ve always donated to help out,” Rob said. Thanks for helping save lives, Rob, and enjoy the game!

Have you heard about our 2D promotion yet? Commit for Life donors who successfully donate in June or July will receive double points for each donation! Points can be redeemed for T-shirts, travel mugs, gift cards and other Commit for Life gear in the Commit for Life store.

Commit for Life donors who give an automated donation during this promotion have the opportunity to earn as many as 1,500 points for one donation, and new Commit for Life members can easily earn 900 points for one donation – WOW! How is that possible? By taking advantage of all the bonus points Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center offers!

How an Automated Donor Can Earn 1,500 Points:
400 points: Independence Day Weekend NDC Special Bonus
+ 100 points: Appointment-Kept Bonus
+ 500 points: Automated Donation
+ 500 points: Double Donation Points Promotion
= 1,500 points for one donation!

 How a First-Time Donor Can Earn 900 Points:
200 points: June NDC Special Bonus
+ 100 points: Appointment-Kept Bonus
+ 200 points: First Whole Blood Donation
+ 200 points: Double Donation Points Promotion
+ 200 points: Commit for Life Sign-Up Bonus
= 900 points for one donation!

Earning all of the bonus points listed above will take some planning on your part – you’ll need to call your Neighborhood Donor Center or log in to Digital Donor at least 24 hours in advance to make an appointment for a day that qualifies for the June Neighborhood Donor Center Specials or the Independence Day Weekend Neighborhood Donor Center Special. These specials are valid only at Neighborhood Donor Centers, not mobile blood drives.

The June Neighborhood Donor Center Special offers 200 bonus points for donations occurring June 17 through 20, and June 24 through 27. The Independence Day Weekend Neighborhood Donor Center Special offers 400 bonus points for donations occurring July 1 through 5. Read How the Point System Works for more details about donation points, the appointment-kept bonus, and the Commit for Life sign-up bonus.

Fewer individuals come in to donate during the summer and around holidays, so The Blood Center offers bonus points to encourage donations during these times. By donating during a Neighborhood Donor Center Special, not only are you earning extra Commit for Life points for yourself, you’re also helping ensure that the blood supply remains stable during a crucial time. The truth is, emergency surgeries, cancer treatments and other blood transfusions continue throughout the summer and holidays, and those patients count on blood donated by people like you.

So make an appointment to donate, earn some extra Commit for Life points and help save lives this summer! When is your next donation?