Benefits of Blood Donation (at Memorial Blood Center)

 Benefits of Blood Donation (at Memorial Blood Center)

This here is the latest reward I received from Memorial Blood Center. It is 100% cotton and fits me pretty well. They were handing these out at the reception desk when I went in to donate last month. I think January is National Blood Donor month, so the center was doing a lot of things to promote blood donation. This shirt is one of them. 

I've been donating to Memorial Blood Center for years now, and I've gotten a lot of stuff like this. Long-sleeve shirts, short-sleeve shirts, coupons for restaurants, and even tickets for local sporting events. Memorial Blood Center does stuff like this to thank donors for volunteering their time and blood. And that's not all either. It's just the occasional stuff. 

Memorial Blood Center has something called the Hero Hub. It's an online thing where donors can schedule appointments, track their donations, and redeem reward points. For every donation, you can earn points, which can be exchanged for things like branded merchandise and gift cards. I typically go the gift card route, Barnes and Nobles. A number of the books on my shelf were purchased on gift cards from Memorial Blood Center. Regular donors earn points fast, and I haven't even gone into the once-a-visit benefits. 

All donors receive refreshments after their donation. Juice, cookies, snacks, lots of tasty treats. Donating whole blood is quick, like ten minutes, so there is little wait until snack time. Donating plasma takes a little longer. Donating platelets takes the longest, and so there is an additional consideration, complimentary Netflix. While donating platelets, donors can watch something on Netflix. I've watched at least four series all the way through (that I can remember while writing this) at Memorial Blood Center. So, you can donate blood while watching a good show. 

And I've saved the best benefit for last. 

You're doing good. You remember the shirt I mentioned at the top of this post? "Give Life". That's what you're doing when you donate blood at Memorial Blood Center. This is a not-for-profit company. It is not like some other places that collect blood, where the objective is profit. No, the objective here is doing good by giving life. 

And the staff appreciate this. I can't speak for Memorial Blood Centers in other places, but the one that I frequent has friendly staff. They greet you when you come in for an appointment and thank you for donating.  If there is a problem, and you can't donate that day, they are still friendly. They don't stop just because you aren't useful to them at the moment. I've even had fun conversations with one of them about something unrelated to blood donation, like anime. I leave my donation appointments there feeling good. 

The benefits for donating blood are numerous, and especially so at Memorial Blood Center. So, if you like the sound of them and you're feeling up to it, look up the center nearest you and give it a shot. Give life and feel good doing it. 

Brian Wilkerson is an independent novelist, freelance book reviewer, and writing advice blogger. He studied at the University of Minnesota and came away with bachelor's degrees in English Literature and History (Classical Mediterranean Period concentration).

His fantasy series, Journey to Chaos, is currently available on Amazon as an ebook or paperback.