SuNDaY BLooDY SuNDaY, FeB. 22

THIS IS YOUR LAST WEEK TO DONATE for the 2009 Manic Mommy's Virtual Blog for Blood Drive

And here are the wonderful donors for this week!



Hi! My name is Gloria, I'm from Arlington, VA. I read about your blood drive challenge on Pasta Queen's blog and thought it was a great idea. I'm a regular donor anyway, so I just asked them to take a picture with my blackberry for me. It didn't come out too good but they were very busy (thank God there was a good turn out) and I didn't want to ask them to retake it. They hold blood drives where I work every 8-12 weeks, so that makes it pretty easy. I donate blood because it saves lives and I would hope that if I were ever in a situation where I needed blood myself, I would hope that there would be enough because of people like us. My father is a regular donor also and I told him about your challenge, but he forgot his camera when he went! Oh well. Anyway, I have attached my picture, have a great day!

Thanks,
Gloria

Hi GLORIA! You are gonna laugh because I was JUST driving home from Panera and I was thinking to myself that I was kinda bummed out because I didn't have any donors for this week yet and I got home and HERE YOU ARE! My first donor of the week so you have made me quite happy today! THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH! And a big shout-out to your dad, Allen, too!

Thanks so very much for donating! This really means a lot, obviously you know that! Thanks so much!


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Michelle is an Alum Donor!!!!!

Here is my blood donation picture/entry. Last year I donated on Feb. 2, Groundhogs Day, my favorite day of the year, for the first time in 10 years. And all of last year I spent donating blood as close to my 8 weeks as possible (illness and grumpiness factored in a time or two). In April I managed to arrange a mobile blood drive during our Relay For Life Kick-Off Event. At that event we got 19 pints of blood in four hours! My two good friends that started donating with me on Groundhogs day last year continued to donate regularly as well. We also donated platelets once and plan to do that more but with the nearest donor center being 80 miles away and having 7 kids between the three of us and all three of our hubbies in Iraq it gets tough to find time to sit in a chair for two hours but they do entertain our kids too so it's nice!

So on January 31st this year I was in Michigan visiting my family. My sister and brother and I decided we'd stop in Ft Wayne IN on our way to visit our grandmother to donate blood. My sister is 23 and has never donated before so she was nervous but excited and happy to help save 3 lives! My brother was in the Army and happened to be in Germany when all the cows were mad and that disqualified him. He was very upset but I assured him that the four years he served in the military was just as valuable as any amount of blood he could have donated that day or in the future. My sister and I laughed and donated our blood in the most ginormous blood donor center I ever imagined. The had so many chairs and apheresis machines! I was very impressed. Anyhow, we saved 6 lives and went on to have dinner with a grandma I hadn't seen in over 2 years. Yay me for a great day!

This is me with Shaun.


We laughed together and I gave him a hard time as much as I could in my 30 minutes of interview/donation time. Good times! Good times!

And here's Sabrina--Michelle's sister!


Thank you so much Michelle, and Sabrina too, and to your brother who wanted to donate, but thanks also for serving our country!

And also, special thanks to Michelle's husband Kirke who is currently serving in Iraq. He could use your prayers as his platoon was hit with a bomb this week -- he is OK but one of his soldiers is in serious condition though. Please keep all their families in your thoughts, and remember, these are some of the important reasons why we need your blood!

You can send your well-wishes to Michelle at her blog! mytwoarmybrats.blogspot.com

And thank you Michelle for being an Alum Donor and for also spearheading your own events to get blood donors! Every little bit helps!

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Manic,

I work at a local hospital here in Southern California so I see daily the impact that blood donations have on people. I am a single mom working hard to just scrape by, so I don't have a lot to offer others ... but I do have enough blood to share! The hospital sent out an SOS because the blood supply was critically low so I encouraged a friend to come along and donate with me. I can't imagine being a mother who's child seriously needed a transfusion and there was not enough available. This is a wonderful thing you're doing and I hope many, many people get out there and donate ... not just this one time, but every 56 days!



Erin H
Artesia, CA

Erin, thank you so much! You are a busy hard-working mom yet you STILL were able to find the time to donate blood! THANK YOU! (Like my subtle way of guilting anyone reading this to DONATE THIS WEEK PLEASE!?!??! You all HAVE THE BLOOD, do you HAVE THE TIME?

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Hey, Manic-

I have never given blood before (health reasons, horribly small veins, fear, etc.) but your blood drive finally got my pumped up to do it! I made my appointment online with the Red Cross and everything. Then, just to be sure, I checked the requirements. FAIL! I spent last summer working on the judicial system in Papua New Guinea, a country with known malaria incidents, and I have to wait a whole year (that will be July!)

I was pretty bummed out and told my boyfriend, Ryan, about my let-down. So, today, he said he had a surprise for me. And I got a picture of a bag of blood on my cell phone- he gave blood FOR me!!! What a sweetheart!!!

Additionally, Ryan was in a pedestrian accident 3 years ago where he was in medically induced coma for 3 weeks, many surgeries, blood loss, etc., so both of us have decided to give back and give blood regularly. It feels so good! (Yes, this is coming from the girl who hasn't had her blood drawn yet! ;)

He didn't know about the contest, so he doesn't have a picture of him in the chair, so I'm attaching what we do have. I understand if you can't accept this is proof.





Thanks for doing this- too incredible.

Sincerely,
Reagan B.
Athens, GA


Ryan H.
Atlanta, GA

Reagan! Totally proof for me! But the only thing is that if Ryan wins the trip to Florida, he HAS TO PROMISE to take you along!!!! That is so awesome of him to do this for you, and how equally sweet to email you the photo! And wow, Ryan, you know the importance of giving blood first-hand as you've had your share of hardships with being in a coma and having your own blood loss-so glad to know that you're OK now! You guys are great and I appreciate it from the bottom of my heart!

So that's IT for this week folks! You've got til Saturday, February 28 to find it in the GOODNESS of your heart, in your veins to donate that ONE PINT, that one pint that could save THREE LIVES, or FIVE LITTLE BABIES' LIVES.

DO YOU HAVE IT IN YOU?

I think you do.

Go ahead. I challenge you.

Shock the hell out of me. Flood my inbox with pictures of you doing something good for someone else. For free. For life. For the rest of THEIR LIVES.

Because, it does. It truly, truly DOES MAKE A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH.

One week. That's it

You know the drill. Here are all the details to Manic Mommy's Virtual Blog for Blood Drive if you've been under the Manic Rock.

Peace UP!