Donors Earn their Wings: Meet our Choose Your Getaway Winners
By Kristin Stankus, Digital community and social media specialist
The summer of 2014 was a thrilling time for donors and staff at Stanford Blood Center (SBC) as we launched a brand new campaign called Choose Your Getaway. Summers are full of fun in the sun but they also slow down with respect to blood donations. With the need for blood remaining steady but supplies dwindling, SBC wanted to offer something new and exciting to encourage donors to come in and give the gift of life through their blood donations. That’s how Choose Your Getaway was born. The prize: $1,000 worth of Southwest airline gift cards! Now our two lucky winners, who were randomly selected from the pool of all donors who donated during the campaign, will travel to the paradise of their choice.
Meet our winning donors
Week one winner, Ali
Ali, our week one winner, is a long time donor who comes in as often as he can to donate whole blood and platelets. Ali’s story is a touching one. Twenty-two years ago, the restaurant he owned was robbed and he was shot in the chest. After being rushed to the nearest trauma center, he received many units of blood, which helped save his life. Since then, he has recognized the importance of giving the gift of blood and donates regularly as his way of “paying it forward through donating.” Ali tells SBC that he feels blessed to be able to donate. He cried tears of joy when he found out he was one of our winners and plans to visit family in North Carolina and Baltimore with his gift certificates.
Week two winner, Rendy
Our next winner has been donating whole blood and platelets for more than 12 years. Charles, better known by his nickname Rendy, first became aware of the importance of blood donations in 2002 when his daughter fell ill. She was admitted to Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and received “quite a lot of blood”. Fortunately, she recovered completely and Rendy has been donating ever since as a way to give back and help others the way the gift of blood from donors helped his daughter. SBC asked Rendy how he felt when he won. “I was thrilled when I heard. When I received the call it was completely unexpected.” He plans to travel somewhere fun with his prize “maybe Phoenix, Southern California, or Vancouver, B.C.”
As we wrap up our summer Choose Your Getaway promotion, we would like to thank all of our donors. Everyone wins when you give blood for life!