Brentview Baptist Church was packed with volunteers on Saturday and they weren’t attending church services. Instead, around 100 people spent around an hour of their New Year’s Eve giving blood.
“I know some people get a little bit dizzy but normally you walk away feeling that you know you helped somebody. You’ll never see that person but you’ll know that somebody’s better off because of it,” Trevor Wilde, a regular blood donor, said.
Wilde usually comes with a group of buddies to donate but couldn’t round up anyone else on Saturday because of the holidays.
“We go as a group because you can make it a social activity if you want and it’s a lot more fun when you’re going through and filling out the questions. We even make it competitive sometimes. Come out and see who can donate the fastest on any given day,” Wilde laughed.
Canadian Blood Services is reminding donors and potential donors in Calgary of the importance of booking an appointment to give blood and that clinics are open over the holidays.
Daniel Dyck was at the Brentwood location with his wife. He is a bone cancer survivor who says he is alive today because of blood donors, including his sister who was a stem cell match for him.
“I think these people are heroes in my eyes because they are giving blood to save lives of people who are sick and dying. I was,” Dyck said.
“So I am a lucky person to have my life, to be able to talk to you right now.”
Dyck can’t donate anymore because he had cancer but his wife, Margaret, is a regular donor now.
“I’m giving back because my husband had so many blood donations when he had cancer but I just feel it would be nice to give back to the community,” Margaret Dyck said.
“Don’t wait until somebody gets sick to do it. Do it if you can step up and do it if you can.”
Anges Bellegris rolled up her sleeve to give blood for the first time on Saturday. That’s because she was asked by her 17-year-old daughter, Payton Mikrogianakis, who is now organizing a blood drive at Westmount Charter school.
“I think it’s fantastic. I’m pretty proud actually. We always encourage giving in our family,” Bellegris said.
“This is a different kind of giving. It’s not monetary in any way whatsoever and it’s still part of the whole doing good to others.”
Payton says she decided to organize the blood drive at her school because it just made sense to get young people involved.
“I was asking people around in the halls to get a vibe for how people would jump on the idea. And people were like, ‘yeah I’ll donate blood of course.’ It seems so straightforward to them. I think they just needed the opportunity so we are just providing them with the opportunity,” Mikrogianakis said, who just made the 17-year-old age requirement to give blood.
As donors in many areas deal with poor weather, it’s even more important for other current and new donors to make and keep their appointments.
As a result of poor weather across the country, Canadian Blood Services has had to cancel a number of clinics and has also seen a decline in the number of donors able to attend clinics.
Another Calgary blood donation clinic will be running on Jan. 2 from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Markin Macphail Centre Winsport Canada.
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