Porch Talk with Father Aaron
Welcome! Here we have conversations where the Christian faith interacts (or intersects) with topics found outside of the typical, safe church environment. We wanted to address the question: "What happens when a priest talks with people of the community about topics that are important to them, but not necessarily what you might hear Sunday morning?" Our church porch (or patio) was designed to facilitate these meaningful and authentic conversations, so we called this "Porch Talk." Join us!
Porch Talk with Father Aaron
Anyone Can Donate Blood: The Embodied Generosity
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Today Fr. Aaron spoke with Marilyn Killingsworth, a donation coordinator with Life South Community Blood Centers. Marilyn and her associate, Hope, both shared about blood donation, why it matters and where it's distributed. Their informative visit gave the chance to talk about why everyone should consider donating blood since it's such an effective way to participate in saving lives.
Hello, everyone. Today I had the opportunity to speak with Marilyn Killingsworth, who is the blood donation recruiter representative for Life South Community Blood Centers. That's the local blood bank here in Dothan, Alabama. Now, I had gotten to know the Blood Bank because I have a long habit of donation myself, that it was started when I was very young. But ever since then, I've been curious and wanting to hear more about what the industry entails, why you know how they come about go about um get you know getting donors to come and uh donate. What do they span out in order to create these blood drives that happen? And um, where does all that go after it's donated? All the while hoping we can inspire more people to donate uh along the way. Anyway, it was a very informative conversation. Um, Maryland came and her associate hope were spoke with me about this, and I hope you'll join us with on this journey. It's very informative, and we're hoping we can generate more interest all the time. So thank you so much for coming and talking to me. Um, so uh you both work with Life South, the blood donation center over here.
SPEAKER_03Yes, sir.
SPEAKER_00So I've been there several times, and uh because blood donation for me started at a young age because my mother used to drag me off to when during her blood donation appointments, and so that was something I just like it wasn't a sense of civic responsibility, it was like that's what you do, right? And uh because it's a resource anybody can give. It's one of those things where the generosity of it has no socioeconomic restrictions because you're always making your own blood, and in insofar as you meet the health parameters, it's what you can give. Right. And it was very satisfying to think that you're like, you know, this is contributing to someone's survival in a hospital or whatever, how that ever that's going to be used.
unknownAbsolutely.
SPEAKER_00And uh it was a habit that started early on. I mean, I always whenever every place I lived in California, Washington, even Texas and Florida, I think I got my 10-gallon pin in when I was still living in Seattle. But then because but it doesn't follow you because agencies you know have different things. So I don't know at one point, right? I don't know what I've accumulated by now. But it was one of those things where anytime you're answering all those questionnaires, you think, well, that's a pretty good benchmark. If I can just maintain my health such that I'm always eligible for giving blood, I'm doing okay.
SPEAKER_03Right. Right.
SPEAKER_00So I was thank you for coming and talking to me. I was hoping to kind of delve a little bit into one, um, what got you into the blood donation business. Um because you seem such nice, nice people, not like those vampires that walk up and go, Oh, what beautiful veins you have. Lady, get back. You know, you're you're you're freaking me out. And she's tapping on my arm, going, Oh, this is a good one right here. No, we're not drilling for oil here. I'm just trying to donate and leave here safely. So, but uh when got you into that, and tell we I want to find out a little bit about the blood donation business because not everybody you know you know has an idea of like what how okay I go and I needle is stuck in my arm for a little for uh anywhere between half an hour to a little bit longer. And then where does it go from there? Now I will say this my donations there have been pretty cool because I get subsequent texts saying, Oh, your donation's on its way to the hospital. That's the first time I've ever seen that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that is something dang.
SPEAKER_00So is there is uh new recent technology that allows you to track uh because it's barcoded and tracks where it's going, and and so you're able to see, oh, okay, it's actually been put to use. So, first off, let's start with you, please.
SPEAKER_01Okay. So back in 2012, I went to school for medical assisting. Um I got my medical assistance certificate. Um, of course, when I finished there, I just started applying to all kind of different types of jobs um in that field. Um, and Life South was they did, you know, get me the opportunity. Um and then I came in, they did their training, um, which you don't have to have any type of schooling to do it. We do on-the-job training anyway.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_01Um, I went in as a donor services technician. Um, I promoted to team leader, and then I promoted to team supervisor, and then November will be two years ago, I promoted to assistant manager.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_01Um, so there's lots of opportunity for growth within the company as well, as long as you're willing to put in the work.
SPEAKER_00All right, so you know you have you have just the one center in donate in Don't Then, right? Yes, and they look on the website, they're all over the South. It's life south, right? So it's all over, and I see these lead donations are pretty regional. So Florida had their own region and so forth. Well, I wish they talked to each other. I probably would get a 20-gallon pin by now.
SPEAKER_03I don't know.
SPEAKER_00I'm sorry to interrupt you, but you know, so yeah, so what it what what drew you to it? I mean, what did you like about it?
SPEAKER_01I mean, well, you know, every day you go out and you might get 20 donors or you might get 10. Um, and some days are harder than others, you know, to get people to donate. But that at the end of the day, whether you got 30, 30 units of blood or 20 units of blood, you're saving lives, and all of our blood stays right here, okay. Um, local. So um it's saving lives in our local community, um, helping the community. Um, so that really, you know, it means a lot because if people don't donate blood, then we're not gonna have it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you don't have any other means of manufacturing this product. Yeah, it has to come from people. So um, and but you when you just I'm sorry you may have said so, but what like what was the initial curiosity that got you? Like, I think I'll get a job there.
SPEAKER_01Well, they had it on Indeed, and I just applied and they were the only ones that called me back.
SPEAKER_00I oftentimes want to ask people what inspired you toward that job? When I I've spent a lot of time with the fire service, and whenever I again sit around new recruits, I always like asking them, okay, so what was the initial inspiration that moved you toward this job? And and I have a theory that there's kind of like a service gene.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Uh that well, everyone talks about their DNA. Everyone goes on to ancestry.com. I'm 18, you know, I'm 18%, you know, Scandinavian, like whatever. But that's they're going to their into their material genetic material. I argue for immaterial genetics, the immaterial um genes, where you kind of what your influence was, where you what inspired you. And oftentimes these new recruits and the fire service will say, Yeah, I had an uncle, I had a you know, a relative or something like that, and they were involved in the medical field or they were a first responder. And like I and they can kind of pinpoint a little bit kind of when that was activated in them.
SPEAKER_01And so, so anything like that I don't have anybody in my family in the medical field, but from a very early age, I've always wanted to be in the medical field. Didn't really know if I was gonna do nursing or you know what type of thing I wanted to do, but I did know that I wanted to be in the medical field. And then when I was in school for the medical assistant, we did a phlebotomy class, and that was a lot of fun.
SPEAKER_00Um, you were one of those you were one of those sick individuals that was like, this is cool. You weren't grossed out, you were curious. Okay, there you go. I get it, I get that. So sorry, Marilyn, your turn.
SPEAKER_02Um so I knew I wanted to go into the medical field. I have my BSN in nursing or bachelor's in science and nursing. Um, I decided to hang my scrubs up when I came to Life South. Um, I didn't really have the patience anymore to deal hands-on with sick patients. Um, but I wanted to stay in the medical field. I still wanted to save lives. My bedside manner was just slipping away. So I was like, maybe I just need to hear you having called the ministerial equivalent of Dr.
SPEAKER_00House.
SPEAKER_02Right, right, right. I was gonna be I was gonna be another house pretty soon. So I said, you know what? I just need to back up a little bit, but I still want to help people. Right. Um, well, Life South had a position for an account representative, um, donor recruiter. Okay. And what I do is schedule blood drives.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_02I schedule blood drives, I talk to the community, make sure they're staying involved, um, stuff like that. So I can still help, but I don't have to be hands-on with the scrubs and stuff. So that was that was my thing for lifestyle. They gave me an opportunity to still be in the medical field, but not have to be so hands-on with patients. Um so that was it. So now I schedule all the blood drives.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. How does the how does the blood donation center make money? I mean, because obviously you're well, one thing, I no one pays you to come donate. And then you've got all that swag they were giving away all the time. And I've got so many t-shirts at home. I can make a quilt. And but so how do how do they make money? I mean, where where's the funding come from?
SPEAKER_01From grants and like the testing and stuff that has to be done on the blood, the testing and the supplies. Okay. The hospitals do pay for them.
SPEAKER_00Oh, I was wondering if they if hospitals purchase that from you or yeah, they play for all the testing and then the supplies needed. Okay. So lab fees, lab fees, and but but also probably uh benevolent grants as well. So there's some fundraising that goes on there.
SPEAKER_02Yes, because we're a nonprofit.
SPEAKER_00Okay. So uh the nonprofit, but everyone needs to be paid. Right, right.
SPEAKER_02Especially because we supply all of the hospitals in the iregrass, um, even up towards Montgomery. We have a center there, and they supply all the hospitals in their area.
SPEAKER_00Okay. So how many blood drives do you have going on around doeth? We have how many uh do you have one bus?
SPEAKER_01We have two buses. Two buses. Yep. And we try to get both of them out every day. Both of them are out today. Now one is in Enterprise, the other one is in Ozark today. Um, the center is open here in Dothan, and then we have our mobile donation center in Enterprise, and it's open Monday through Friday in Enterprise.
SPEAKER_00So have you ever, I mean, in all your time recruiting donation, have you come across any study whereby that correlates donate blood donation with people's health? Um, rephrase for me. Well, because you know it seems as though fewer people than you would think will do something for strictly selfless reasons. And so oftentimes you want to incentivize saying, no, no, this is good for you in some way. Years ago, I remember I remember asking of this of the of a donation center when I back in California, see anything like that. And they said, well, someone there was one article out of Sweden that tried to correlate strongly um the blood donation with the healthy lifestyles, but there was that was there was a real messiness with causality versus you know correlation versus causation, because was it that people were donating regularly and this was beneficial to them because they're they're basically blood is recycling itself and in making um you know in generating new uh blood for themselves, or is that simply people who donate tend to already be health conscious people? And therefore you're you're that's gonna skew your data because they're already the kind of person that would think you would have a utilitarian use of their body of keeping it up, keeping it up, keeping it fit, and in addition to that, give some of it, give you know some of my blood away.
SPEAKER_02So what have you so I I do it's hand in hand, so we'll have donors come on and they're strictly coming to donate because they recently had a family member that needed blood or somebody in the family has a health issue, and so they're doing it in honor. But we also have people that come out and will schedule to donate around their own health reasons, and they do it, they say just because it's the right thing to do.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_02Um, we had a blood drive yesterday, and our chairperson is finna have a knee replacement surgery, and she said, I wanted to do this blood drive now so I can donate blood. Um, and I said, Well, why do you want to donate if you're finna have surgery? You might need your blood. And she said, because it's the right thing to do. So we see some of both. Um, and then you also have the people that come in because they're benefiting, because donating blood benefits you as well, it helps burn calories, it's like an oil change to your body. You know, there's some people their blood might get too thick, and the doctor will tell them you need to go donate.
SPEAKER_03Interesting.
SPEAKER_02And because having really thick blood, it can it can affect you, like you your head'll hurt, you'll just feel lousy. So after you donate, you instantly feel better. And so it everybody has different benefits and reasons, and we see some of all of them.
SPEAKER_00But no, I I that's fascinating to me because there are actually benefits to them. I mean, for me, probably one of the benefits I've had experienced selfishly uh in my blood donation is that it was like if I disclose it about myself, it's not broken confidentiality, right? Um, so about six months ago, I go in and I wanted to donate, and you go through all the questionnaire and they finally go in, they test your blood, and you're like, you do not hit our iron benchmark. What? I've been donating for I was defensive about it, and so like it wasn't her fault. She's like, it's just it's the machine. What can I tell you? Because your iron level has to be at a certain level, and because this because donating's gonna drop it a little bit, right? Yes, but I did not meet that threshold. I was really put out. I'm like, seriously, I was dejected. I left left there with my head, you know, head down, like by telling my wife, I was like, they rejected me. She's like, You've been donating for 40 years, how do they reject you? I don't know, but I just didn't make the cut. Oh my gosh. So I'm going to iron supplements, I'm making you know, checking my diet, making sure, because apparently there's like your normal level, iron level is fine, but it has to be a little bit above that in order because the patients are dropping.
SPEAKER_01And when you're a regular donor too, sometimes um if you've been donating for a while, like you have, um, it can get to where it takes your body just a little bit longer to build it back up where it is.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I was offended. I was really mad. And so I'm going on this regimen to make sure it's like, why? Because your doctor told you no, because the lady at the blood bank said I don't qualify. And she's a taskmaster too, man. She's not going to lie for me either. And so it got to the point, seriously, where they recognize me and they'd say, We'll test your blood first before you go through our questionnaire. Thank you. Trying to make it a little bit more efficient. Yeah. Because I don't want to waste any more of their time. So finally, last time I was it was so proud that I finally kind of made the cut. Gosh, you know, this is like midlife crisis type stuff. So I was so proud that I finally made the cut that I'm like, heck yeah, I'm staying for double reds.
SPEAKER_01Yes, we love that.
SPEAKER_00I'm going the full Monty on this business. I am not wasting a donation on because I've been working hard for six months. And so I was like, it was a pretty, it's one of those little things. You have to take the little victories where you can. Absolutely. So tell me, so talk a little bit about some of the different types of donation. I mean, because you know, just your person goes in and they donate what you know, a pint to a pint, a pint, right? And that's your typical what they mean, everyone thinks about. And that is so that typically is pretty quick. Right. And pump that out, pump that sucker out pretty quick. But there's other types of donations they can do, which there's a little bit more of a time commitment, but but but they are so much more readily useful. And so I see you going for what phoresis, double red. You could talk a little bit about that if you could, the different types.
SPEAKER_02So there's three different things you could donate. You could do whole blood, well, four. You could do whole blood, you could do plasma, okay, platelets, or double red cells, okay. Red cells. Um, whole blood has all of those things already in it.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_02But and it only takes about 20 minutes after you get stuck. Some people are done in eight to ten minutes, you know.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I I was comp I was competing with myself on those things, right?
SPEAKER_02So then if you do whole blood, that's gonna go to our lab, and then that's where they separate all of it and put it where it needs to go. So if you go on our automation machines, um, we have two automation machines. Trima can do platelets, red cells, or plasma, and our Alex machine does red cells, it filters it there in the center so that blood doesn't have to go to the lab next. It can go straight to a hospital. Um, so it takes longer to donate, but it gets to the hospital faster. So if you do red cells, it takes about 45 minutes. Uh, most of that goes to the babies in the NICU. Um, platelets, that takes about an hour and a half, depending on what's going on with you.
SPEAKER_00Do you still do two arms or do you only do the one arm?
SPEAKER_02Just one. Just one.
SPEAKER_00I've done the two arm thing before.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, just one. And it just filters everything out in the machine. So if you're given red cells, it's gonna give you everything but the red cells back. If you're doing platelets, it's gonna keep the platelets, give everything else back. Um, and we can run stuff concurrent. So we can pull red cells and platelets. It won't be as much as if we were just doing the one, but we can still pull both and then it goes off to where it needs to go. Platelets help our cancer patients. Um, we do have a plasma goal. Now we recently just received that. Um, we were able to pull plasma before, but it wasn't necessarily on our books like a goal to hit. Um, we just received that goal. Apparently, we need more plasma in the community. How often can you donate platelets? Platelets once a week.
SPEAKER_00Once a week.
SPEAKER_03Once a week.
SPEAKER_00So that may have changed. I don't know if that's regulation's always been the case, but there was a time in California when I was in every set 72 hours because they had matched me with a cancer patient at the local hospital.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And so I was back in, you know, every 72 hours, you know, to help them. Right. So that would that, but that that was interesting because that was back in the two-arm thing days, because you're sitting there, you can't move either arm. And well, because one's going out, the other one's going in.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Well, no, I actually preferred that because the only negative experience I ever had donating, kind of traumatic. So I the one one needle, you know, goes out and then the return cycle. Well, somewhere along the line, it's probably my definitely my fault, but some of the needle had shifted, and on the return cycle is just pumping, you know, the the needle had shifted out of the vein, and so it's pumping the return around, yeah. Exactly right. And I was like, ow. And so I was trying to think like, um, ma'am, please, I I think this, yeah. And so she's like, What did you do? Sorry, my fault. So, but but the one-arm thing, you didn't have to worry about that. It was just continuously stay still. But the internet has totally changed that side of the donation because I remember when blood banks had to have a library of VHS tapes so you could watch a movie while you were donating platelets sitting there in one spot for a long time. Now it's all on our phones.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Well, and at our center with our platelet machines, uh, we do have TVs for them to watch. Yeah, now a lot of them do opt to read or watch their phone or something, but we do have the option.
SPEAKER_00Oh, I know. Yeah, well, I again sitting there with double reds. I'm like, I'm just able you take your computer around with you, so I was able to answer emails and you do everything on my phone. But uh, but no, back in the day, you know, I'm so old. So um back in the day, you know, when you're at it, like the you know, what what movies do you have on your VHS library that person's putting it in this thing and it slams down, you know, slams down within the VHS player, which you would only find at one of our antique malls now. And so which one would you like? And you select one, and then okay, I'm gonna watch a movie now while I'm sitting here, you know, calmly uh donating donating platelets. So so whole blood, um whole blood uh uh platelets and uh and plasma plasma and plasma and red cells and plasma and red cells. And so is that a different process or is it just the same machine?
SPEAKER_01Um we do have we just have the two machines. Um the processes are about the same. Now, platelets do take longer than the double unit of red cells, um, but the process is the same. We're just gonna keep if you're donating platelets, we're gonna keep your platelets, give you everything else back. If you're donating plasma, we're gonna keep your plasma, give you everything else back. If you're donating a double unit of red cells, we're only gonna keep your red cells and give you everything else back.
SPEAKER_00Interesting. Okay. So and it but just varies on uh the time that a person is willing to going to set aside for that.
SPEAKER_03Yep.
SPEAKER_00Like I said, you know, uh it's a if for just a pint of uh whole blood, it's a race. You know, how fast can I get this, wipe this puppy out? And but others you've like to set aside some time for that, right? And even sometimes maybe even set that appointment. Yep. Right. I've set appointments before, but you know, if I'm I've never gone in and not gone straight into uh straight into a chair. So but uh no. So then the hospitals that you support locally, is it only Southeast and Flowers or is it the whole region? The whole region. Okay.
SPEAKER_01We supply Dell Medical in Ozark, okay, um, Wiregrass Medical in Geneva, Mazdell Memorial in the AWP, and Medical Center Barber in Evaluan.
SPEAKER_00Is there a I it sounds so crass, is there like a shelf life? Is there an expiration dean? You're like We we we can't support them because these you know there's a you can't refrigerate it. Well, how how far can your blood go?
SPEAKER_01So um once it's collected whole blood, um, we keep it on like it can sit out at room temperature for six hours, then we have to put it on ice or in our fridge. Um, once it gets processed, whole blood is good for 42 days. Okay. Or bread cells from whole blood is good for 42 days. So essentially you can only give whole blood every eight weeks, um, which is 56 days. So your blood would expire if not used, but I see okay. You try to, you know, first in, first out, so nothing gets expired. It's getting used. It's being used before you could even donate it. It would expire. Platelets are only they only have a shelf life of five days.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
unknownInteresting.
SPEAKER_01Um, and then plasma, we can freeze it up to a year, so it doesn't plasma does last a little bit longer.
SPEAKER_00Interesting. So, and um, and your volume here at this donation center, I mean, is it you obviously you you always have room for more, but is it maintaining a steady pace or um right now we need O positive and O negatives um for double for double units of red cells and then a positive and a negative donors when you're some costly consumers. Um yeah, like come here, we're siphoning you and again, siphon you again, Betty.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and we have people all the time they're like, I'm a positive, do you need my blood? I'm like, if you're O positive, you're O negative, and you're wondering if we need your blood dancers, yes.
SPEAKER_00So if someone doesn't know their blood type, can they come there and find that out?
SPEAKER_01Yep, yes, okay.
SPEAKER_00And because you don't know that do you would be able to test that then?
SPEAKER_02We can tell the letter.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So during the physical, we do have reagents that will tell them the letter. Once we draw their blood and send it to the lab, they do the actual blood typing, positive or negative. They will get an email with it, and then the next time they come in, it's already in our system.
SPEAKER_00I see, okay. Interesting. Well, it's you this is one of the things I'm passionate about in terms of helping people develop that sense of engagement, and because it's something with few medical restrictions, it's something everybody can donate. There's no socioeconomic, no uh ethnic restrictions on you know blood donation. And it was after 9-11. I lived in Seattle, Washington at the time. And uh there was just a sense of, okay, this event that had taken place in New York City on the opposite end of the country, but nationwide, people were like, what can I do? You know, it's like they wanted to do something. They wanted to, you know, contribute, or there's nothing you can do. What are you gonna do living in Seattle for those in New York? And I wrote a letter, you know, letter to the editor at the Seattle, um Seattle Times news uh newspaper, basically saying, you know, there is something everybody can do because I'm sure those blood banks are completely drained very quickly. And it goes outward, and there's a rippling effect, who supports what was supporting everybody that uh everyone affected by the strategy in New York, and then that pleats blood banks you know near them, which then they themselves probably had to be resupplied by other uh you know donation centers out from there, and there probably was a ripple effect. So I was passionate about like even from across the country, there's something that you're you are able to do and respond to a tragedy like that. I don't get it, there's a chance for people to feel like I want to do something. Right, you know, you don't want to have this, you don't want to be told, oh, just sit there, we've got it all handled. Like, no, no, no, no. People want to engage, they want to do something to assist tragedies, especially in a mass casualty event like that. But you they want to have some sense of agency, like they can do something, they're not completely powerless in being helpful. Right. And so that's blood donation is one of the things I kind of point them to. Yeah, because everybody can. And it's and there's a sense of completely overused term, but a sense of empowerment about it. Right. Because you're saving lives. You really are. I mean, you're you're in a very, very tangible way. It's not just yes, the thoughts and prayers are good, but this is material, this is you know, uh from the body, and that's able to contribute that way.
SPEAKER_02Right. Which is why they say when you donate a whole blood, you can save up to three lives. Really? Because we're gonna take it, we're gonna separate it, and we can give it out to three different people if we need to.
SPEAKER_01One person can get your red cells, one person can get your plasma, and someone else can get your platelets.
SPEAKER_00Oh wow. So that multiplying effect there. Yes. So wonderful. Um, so the life the website is lifestouth.org. Or lifestouth.org. And if they wanted to say if a business or you know some group wanted to hold a blood drive themselves, they would just contact you through the website.
SPEAKER_01Yep, they could contact us through the website or they can even just call us um and they'll just tell them they want to host a blood drive and they'll get us get them to the right person.
SPEAKER_00Are there times of the year when you seem to have more responses than others?
SPEAKER_01Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00Yes. What's your harvest season?
SPEAKER_01Um, all the not the summer. Um the summer is the slowest, um, but people are busy. You know, the kids are out of school. So after parents have been at work all day, they don't really have time to stop by Walmart and donate blood at the blood mobile because their kids have been at home all day by themselves. They gotta get dinner and go home. Um, I would say once school goes back, um, it will get a little bit better. And then usually around Christmas time, everybody's in the giving spirit. Um, and and then, you know, not only that, you know, me and my husband are more Christmas shopping. Well, the blood mobile's out there, so I'm just gonna let you shop and I'm gonna go get blood. Um, so a lot of times we gotta go get a t-shirt. A lot of times we'll have husbands that are like, yeah, my wife is in there shopping, but I'm just gonna come get blood so they don't have to go in there and shop. Um, but the summertime is very slow. And then once schools go back, um, a lot of the high schools in the area will let us host blood drops with them. Um, students that are 16, of course, they have to have parental consent, and then 17 and uh can donate without parental consent. And, you know, they are saving lives, but you know, they they want to get out of class. I started giving blood when I was in high school, so I could get out of class. So I get it. So typically our high schools do very well.
SPEAKER_00I encourage parents to take their kids because that's how I got in, that's how that's how it got inculcated into me. There's almost like a you know the in in church settings, there's the term that is used of catechesis, like catechize your child by walking them through all the practices and and ins and outs of your belief. So you like basically you draw them along with you and the things you find important. And I think that there's a catechesis of giving as well. Yeah, where you pull your child along with you doing what you do to be in that in that giving, giving back. And that's what how I was in introduced to this.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. And we even have a program we call donation generation, and we go to some of the elementary schools in the area and we teach them about blood. Of course, we do it in a way that they can understand because they're small with Play-Doh and we make fake blood with them, teach them like, you know, what your red cells do for your body, what your platelets do for your your body, and then we invite them to go home and show their parents. We send them home with all the supplies. Um, go teach your parents what you learned and ask them to come donate blood at our blood drive at the school on Friday. And then, you know, if the blood drive collects our daily goal, which is 20 units, then the class that has the most participation will give them a donut party. And that is to try to help, you know, um, gap the bridge between, like, you know, once they get to 16, they're gonna know about blood donations because we come to their school when they were in third grade and talked about it. Right. And hopefully, um, you know, teach the next the next generation up until we're there.
SPEAKER_02They will donate as adults, prepping them to save lives. Yes.
SPEAKER_00Right, exactly. No, no, I tell people all the time, we say you want to be a Marvel superhero, um, there the power to bless exceeds the power to tear down or destroy. Because, and I don't want to get here to talk about blood donation, not my favorite philosophical topics, but I always say that um because of the spiritual sense of gravity that we all, you know, that we all have to deal with, it is easier to tear down than it is to build up. Right. Yeah, it is and it is and just like just like like I said, this is a sense of gravity. You could drop something, and it takes a lot less effort for to drop it than it is to build to lift it up. And for that reason, um any sort of destructive habits that we have are lazy. It's far more, it's a it's a far greater demonstration of power. And and again, I don't like that overused term, but there is a sense of uh people who are dealing with the epidemic of powerlessness in much of our culture. And so if you really want to have that sense of real power surging through you, it's the power to bless. And so, um, and and I specifically I'm specifically passionate again, blood donation is something that a habit I developed early on. Um when I was younger, I don't know if these exist anymore, but when I was younger, you still even had religious fringes that had interesting, weird ideas about blood donation, about whether or not the you know, this was something, if this was treating the body sacred enough to, you know, to you know, give it away some of your blood or transfusions or anything like that. And I just really take the opposite tack. That I am I take it totally in the opposite direction, like that God's grace deployed through us is supposed to be embodied, right? And there's supposed to be a manner in which our body is used in the deployment of blessing to others. Yes, and it seems to me that blood donation is an example of that, right? Absolutely, absolutely, and so I I'm um I really appreciate you coming to talk to me. Thank you very much.
SPEAKER_02Thank you for all thank you for having us.
SPEAKER_00Oh, absolutely. So, and God bless you both. And you know, um hopefully next next time I'm there and I'm like, and the one who's taking my blood is like affirming my manhood again because yes, you made the cut this time.
SPEAKER_03Yes, yes, and my gosh.
SPEAKER_00No, I was so I was so ridiculously proud of myself. And my wife just she doesn't roll her eyes at me, maybe she is like, okay, here we go. We got to go out to dinner for this. Yes, to celebrate the fact that I was able to donate today.
SPEAKER_03Yes.
SPEAKER_00So very proud of myself with that, and uh unreasonably so. But uh it was it was great, it was great. It's awesome. I enjoyed going back there every time. So thank you so much for coming and talking.
SPEAKER_03Thank you.