By Dorothy Evans
On Wednesday, May 28, Weiser held its quarterly American Red Cross blood drive in the Vendome Events Center. 62 scheduled donors and seven walk-ins gave the most precious gift of all, the “gift of life.” It is triple the “gift of life” since each unit of blood donated can save three lives.
Honored at the draw was long-time blood donor and community supporter, Mary Walker, who was presented with her ten-gallon pin. Ten gallons is an incredible achievement since each blood donation is one pint and there are eight pints to a gallon. Over the last 20-some years, Mary has donated 80 times! Try to visualize ten gallon cans of paint or ten gallon jugs of milk and you can picture what an accomplishment this is.
Mary not only donates blood each quarter, but she is also in charge of preparing the egg salad sandwiches for the donors. This entails boiling dozens of eggs and mixing the salad the night before and then arriving at 7:00 a.m. the morning of the drive to help build the sandwiches. The egg salad sandwiches have become synonymous with the drive and are our donors’ favorite, making Mary a popular lady. Along with other helpers, Mary stays the rest of the day to make sure all our donors are fed.
Mary is amazing but so are all our donors. Those giving their permission to print their name are: Lucy Ross, Larry Lee, Jason Bair, Jeff Kahler, Wendy Martell, Melisse Hiner, Chris McCord, Ian Ross, Liz Sousa, Michael Hartnett, Diane Higgins, Rick Haynes, Megan Overgaard, Wil Overgaard, Joya Hill, Mary Walker, Ed Roukema, Dave Jenkins, Pat Sullivan, Jana Hill, Marla Leedy, Gilbert Salazar, Aurora Salazar, Jhonna Eldridge, Ralph Graham, Suzanna Hubele, Rhonda Hirata, Monica Odoms, Rebekah Tracy, Mari Bionaz, Steve Cooper, Bob Barber, Brianna Caskey, Coleen Grant, Mark Christensen, Lorrie Dewyar, Johnny Biddinger, JoAnn Karel, Rebecca Hale, Patti Hartnett, Jose Rodriguez, Jr., Shere Baxter, Gus Terteling, Jodi Johnson, David Santo, Pamela Burris, Karen (Shorty) Shannon, Brian Johnson, Frank Thomas, Erma Brunabend, Trent Winegar, Tom Anderson, Steve Nakamura, Kylie Schroeder, Denton Odoms, Troy Krahn, Sandy Michael, Haley Hoback and Angelea Halvorson.
The blood drive could not happen without the help of all the volunteers. Blood drive chairman, Alex Chavarria, pulled it together by lining up and calling donors. Coordinator Dorothy Evans worked the registration table during the drive and entered future appointments into the database after the drive. Pat West helped with the registration. Mary Walker and Deb Jenkins of Nu Masters sorority, and Gay Morinaka-Hayden prepared sandwiches for the donors. Anna Loos, Beverly Attebery and Val Donicht of Xi Nu sorority kept the food tables supplied. The sororities also prepared a delicious baked chicken lunch for the volunteers and Red Cross workers. Nu Masters and Xi Nu are members of the Beta Sigma Phi City Council who funds the purchase of the food. We are also grateful to MTE for their generous contribution that pays for supplies and WIFI.
Weiser’s next quarterly blood drive will be held in the Vendome Events Center on Wednesday, August 6, from 8:00 a.m. to 1:45 p.m. Please call Dorothy Evans at 208-550-0990 to schedule an appointment or go on the American Red Cross website to reserve your time slot. Your blood may save three lives. There’s no better way to spend an hour of your time.
