DAYTON, Ohio – He’s ALIVE! Frankenstein, the reanimated brute with an “Abby Normal” brain could soon be “puttin’ on the Riiittz!” for Community Blood Center (CBC) donors and making “yummy sounds” when he spies the cookies in the Donor Café. On Tuesday, October 4 the Dayton CBC will host a Monster Blood Drive in partnership with the Victoria Theater Association and MIX 107.7 to celebrate opening night of “The New Mel Brooks Musical YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN” at the Benjamin & Marian Schuster Performing Arts Center, in downtown Dayton. Kristi Leigh from MIX will broadcast live from CBC from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. of the Monster Blood Drive. Some of the “monsters” from the show (and if he escapes, perhaps even Frankenstein) may invade CBC to greet donors during the remote broadcast. In addition to receiving the stoneware “Blood Donor – Every Drop Counts” mug, everyone who registers to donate can enter a drawing for several pairs of tickets to a performance of “The New Mel Brooks Musical YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN” at the Schuster Center. The theatrical production of the classic 1974 Mel Brooks’ film runs October 4-9 at the Schuster Center as Victoria Theatre Association’s first production of the 2011 – 2012 Miami Valley & Good Samaritan Hospitals Broadway Series. The show is hilarious fun for most of the family, but not all, since it does contain adult situations and language. The 2011-2012 Miami Valley & Good Samaritan Hospitals Broadway Series presentation ofThe New Mel Brooks Musical YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN receives support from Leadership Sponsors Time Warner Cable, Dayton Business Journal and Projects Unlimited, Inc. Additional support is provided from Performance Sponsors: News Talk Radio WHIO AM 1290 and 95.7 FM and K 99.1 FM, Robbins & Myers, and Grunder Landscaping. For more information on the 2011-2012 Miami Valley & Good Samaritan Hospitals Broadway Series and the rest of the Victoria Theatre Association’s season, visit http://www.victoriatheatre.com. Victoria Theatre Association is one of Dayton’s premier arts organizations, presenting the Miami Valley & Good Samaritan Hospitals Broadway Series, the PNC Family Series, the Michelob Ultra Cool Films series, Star Attractions, the Projects Unlimited Variety Series, KeyBank African-American Arts Festival, and the Physicians for Kids Discovery Series, which features curriculum-enhanced live theatre productions for school children. Victoria Theatre Association is proud of its alliance with the Dayton Opera. In addition to the performances it presents, Victoria Theatre Association also manages the historic Victoria Theatre, the Benjamin & Marian Schuster Performing Arts Center, and the Metropolitan Arts Center, which houses The Loft Theatre. Victoria Theatre Association receives funding from a variety of diverse public, corporate, individual and private sources, including the Montgomery County Arts and Cultural District and the Ohio Arts Council. The Ohio Arts Council helped fund this program or organization with state tax dollars to encourage economic growth, educational excellence and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans.
Blood donation requirements: Donors are required to provide a photo ID that includes their full name. Past CBC donors are also asked to bring their CBC donor ID card. Donors must be at least 16 years of age (16 years old with parental consent: form available at http://www.givingblood.org or at CBC branch & blood drive locations), weigh a minimum of 110 pounds, and be in good physical health. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) changes blood donor eligibility guidelines periodically. Individuals with eligibility questions are invited to email canidonate@cbccts.org or call 1(800)388-GIVE. Make an appointment at http://www.DonorTime.com. Community Blood Center/Community Tissue Services® is an independent, not-for-profit organization. Community Blood Center provides blood products to 24 hospitals within a 15-county service area in the Miami (Ohio) and Whitewater (Indiana) Valleys. For more information about Community Blood Center/Community Tissue Services®, visit http://www.givingblood.org
Month: September 2011
LOCAL ‘IRON MAN’ OF BLOOD DONATIONS
CBC's top active donor Wendell Clark
Once again, Wendell Clark was a man on a mission when he arrived at Community Blood Center (CBC) Monday, September 12. He chatted pleasantly but briefly with Marilyn Staker, the apheresis recruitment specialist he has known for years then went to sign-in for his appointment.
His 540th appointment to donate blood.
After all those visits, he knows the routine. He rattled off his donor ID number, spelled his name, gave his birth date (he’s 58) and his Eldorado address. With a wink he pointed to the lobby monitor screen that rotates a picture of him throwing out the first pitch at a Dayton Dragons game, a night honoring him as CBC’s Top Active Blood Donor. “There I am,” he said, enjoying the irony.
What he still hadn’t noticed was the small alter assembled in his honor under the monitor. Most prominent in the display was the same photo of his first pitch blown up to poster size, matted, framed and signed by all his friends at CBC. Next to it was a framed 5×7 version of the same action photo, and next to that a baseball signed by all the members of the Dragons minor league baseball team.
When he made that toss his lifetime blood donation count was at 535. His first pitch was the highlight of a special CBC promotional night at Fifth Third Field, July 25, in partnership with the Dayton Dragons. Fans toured a Bloodmobile and the LAB parked on Fifth Third Field Plaza before the game and more than 100 special guest blood donors and their families were in the stands for the first pitch. Wendell and his family then watched the game from a luxury VIP suite.
“My goal is to hit 600 (donations),” he said that night. “But if I can stay healthy, I can hit 800.”
Again, he is a man on a mission – so focused on donation number 540 he didn’t see himself in a framed poster. He did point to the lobby monitor before going back to the donor room and said to Marilyn, “I’d like to get a copy of that.” We were way ahead of him!
We call him our “Iron Man” because of his commitment to giving blood (his blood type makes him a particularly good match for apheresis donations that have helped ill children and cancer patients); his strong health, which allows him to keep an incredibly predictable appointment schedule (and stay on his record donation pace); and finally his quiet, almost shy demeanor. It’s the part of Wendell that makes him the humble “Iron Man” with a heart of gold.
Once he settled into his approximately hour-long apheresis donation (and the paperback he brought to pass the time) we surprised him with his gifts. He was clearly pleased. “I’ll probably take that one to work,” he said of the 5×7 picture. “That will probably go in my living room!” he said pointing to the poster.
Earlier, when he had asked unassumingly about getting a copy of his picture – not noticing the poster version on display – we gave him a tentative “We’ll see what we can do.” Now, with poster in hand and a big smile on his face, he said, “I knew you could get it!”
We’re glad to know that Wendell felt he could depend on us. After all, if there is one thing we have learned, 540 times to be exact, is that CBC – and all in need of the gift of life – can depend on him.
Blood Donor Drives Away with New JEEP Patriot
Blood donor Daniel Lange of St. Henry wins new Jeep Patriot!
Dayton, OHIO – Dan Lange of St. Henry kept a stone-cold poker face to the very end. If he was excited, anxious or even hopeful, he never showed his hand. He was the only Top 10 Finalist in the Community Blood Center (CBC) Jeep Patriot drawing who refused to speculate about good fortune, insisting “I haven’t won anything yet”… until he did.
Lange was the first finalist to pick his envelope. He chose one from the middle of the pile. One by one, all 10 took an envelope until the table was empty, then waited for the countdown to rip them open. But only Lange’s held the “golden ticket” with the inscription “winner.” True to form, he was “Cool Hand Dan” up until the moment of truth.
“I wasn’t going to open it right away,” he said, still beaming with satisfaction. “I was going to let everyone else go first. They said nine of the envelopes would have a silver ticket, but mine was white. I pulled it out, and on the other side… it was gold. I said ‘Oh my goodness!’”
After a hug and kiss from his joyful wife Jody, Lange went back to his poker face, saying he would give the Jeep to his 21-year old son Dylan. But when he pressed, he broke a smile and said “No!” He then went down the line of finalists, shaking hands with everyone. Only Lange was the Jeep winner, but they all shared the bond of being blood donors.
Dr. David Smith, CEO of Community Blood Center/Community Tissue Services, welcomed the finalists to the Jeep Patriot Giveaway Event. He said the “Redefine the Meaning of Red, White and Blue” summer blood drive had benefitted from the Jeep drawing, with nearly 25,000 people registered to give blood and nearly 2100 first-time donors.
“I want to thank you for what you have done,” said Dr. Smith, “Not for us – we’re just the middle men – but for the people you have helped who need and depend on the gift of life. We thank you and all our CBC donors.”
Jeep winner Dan Lange credited his employer, Midmark, the health industry lighting company in Versailles, for holding blood drives, including the drive where he made the donation that entered him into the Jeep drawing.
“I really encourage everyone to donate blood,” Lange said. “It’s a great thing to do. I have children who donate blood, and where I work at Midmark we have blood drives. I encourage it.”
The other nine finalists went home with a $50 gasoline gift card as a consolation prize. When asked if he was disappointed, Bob Berger, the retired foundry worker with a rusting pickup, was philosophic. “Oh, it’s alright,” he said. “I’m a Ford man anyway!”
And like a poker player who finally gets to collect his pile of chips, “Cool Hand Dan” reflected on his win. “I’m kind of in shock,” he said. Then after a kidding from his wife about watching his blood pressure he admitted, “I need to, because I am definitely going to enjoy this.”
The “Redefine the Meaning of Red, White and Blue” summer blood drive was sponsored by Walker Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and Ram in Centerville and REACH Magazine. Anyone who registered to donate blood between Memorial Day weekend and Labor Day weekend was automatically entered into the Jeep drawing.
Solvita Blood Center 