Editor:
    What can I say to encourage men and women between the ages of 25 and 45 to give blood?
    Many in your age group have not committed to donating blood in the same way your parents did. In the last decade fewer donors actually make it to the donor site on a scheduled donor day. If you make it to the donor site, thank you, but you are among a dwindling number.
    I recently read the reasons why men and women who could give blood, do not. Some reasons are personal (don’t like needles, I'm anemic, I am afraid I'll faint); others reasons are because of misinformation (they don’t need my blood, I am probably not eligible to give blood; I don’t have enough blood to spare). 
    Maybe you really want to give blood.  But, if you are like most folks, we don’t do a lot of important things that we want to do, know we should do, for three reasons.
    “I am too busy.”
    Giving blood may take about 60 minutes. Twelve minutes of that is the actual drawing of blood. Stay hydrated! Eat! Make an appointment! Red Cross is steadily working to decrease the amount of time required for a donor visit. Go online and review your donor history. Are you really too busy to make such a life-saving difference to the lives around you? There is no other source for blood but you.
    “I will do it soon.”
    How many good things have you wanted to do but kept putting off?
    And, the poor cousin to procrastination is this excuse.
    “Others must be giving enough blood even if I don’t.”
    Only about 37 percent of the population is eligible to give, and only 10% of eligible donors donate blood at least once a year. Only half of those donors donate regularly. Those percentages are pretty discouraging aren’t they? That is why there are blood shortages many times during the year. Just reflect on what the recent snow catastrophe in the Northeast has done to our blood supply availability. Shortages can affect the cancer patient you know, a young person from your child’s school who is seriously injured in a car wreck or a friend who is scheduled for surgery. Other lives, unknown to you, struggle to survive another day without a plentiful blood supply.  Regularly donated blood by lots of donors help keep an available and plentiful  blood supply there for you, me and them.
    “You are the only one who can supply blood” is worth saying twice. Blood, unfortunately, cannot be manufactured. It is a perishable product. Blood, unlike Twinkies, has a relatively short shelf life. The more sophisticated our medical treatments and procedures become, the more we need a plentiful and “ready to serve” blood supply. 
    The sad truth is that the dependable Red Cross donor has been growing older. Some of those dependable donors develop medical problems that prevent donating. Some can no longer get to the donor site. And some donors, sad to say, just die. We are now depending on you.
    Please promise yourself to become a regular blood donor! You can make all the difference in the world.
    You can get started by going to www.redcrossblood.org, calling (800) 773-2767 or checking out the scheduled blood donor schedule and sites each week in the Statesboro Herald under “Calendar.” It is announced on NCTV and WWNS. Many of your churches get the month’s schedule. Or, you may call me at (912) 764-7281 for help getting started.
 
Ruth Ann Rogers