A chance to save a life...

 ConCarolinas, a scifi convention in Charlotte, is coming, and the Charlotte Browncoats is lending a hand in helping this happen. So this was on the Charlotte Browncoats Yahoo group--and I am putting it on here...

Hello everyone. My name is Luis and I am a member of the ConCarolinas security team. This year the staff has decided that we wanted to host a blood drive to help give back to the community. Since I work for the American Red Cross I was asked to organize the drive for the con.

Why have a blood drive? Approximately every two seconds someone in the United States needs blood. One blood donation could help save the lives of up to three people. More than 38,000 blood donations are needed every day to treat patients in need. Just 38% of the population is eligible to give blood but only a fraction of those people actually do.

What's the benefit of donating at the ConCarolinas blood drive? Besides helping people in need as an incentive to donate each person who donates will be given a raffle ticket. At the end of the drive several prizes will be raffled off to some lucky donors.

There is one thing that we need to do to make this a huge success. The American Red Cross will not commit to being at ConCarolinas unless we can get at least 30 people to pre-register for the drive. Anything less than 30 and they won't come. I know that we can do this and get 30 people signed up. I know a lot of people can't donate; my wife is one of them. If you can't donate, see if a friend or family member can donate. I already have a couple of people, including myself, that are going to donate.

What I would like is anyone who is interested in donating and would like to pre-register to please email me your name, phone number and email address. The phone number and email will only be used to remind you as the drive draws near and will not be given to anyone outside of the American Red Cross.

Please check out this web page if you are a first time donor...

http://www.redcrossblood.org/donating-blood/first-time-donors

Please check out this web site to view donation FAQ's...

http://www.redcrossblood.org/donating-blood/donation-faqs

Please check out this web page to view eligibility requirements...

http://www.redcrossblood.org/donating-blood/eligibility-requirements/eligibility-criteria-topic
  
I work at the American Red Cross Donor & Client Support Center in their eligibility department. If anyone has any specific questions about eligibility requirements please feel free to email me and I will be able to answer your questions. You can also send your registration info (name, phone & email) to the same address. It is Tuskenfan@.... Any eligibility information, plus your contact info, will be strictly confidential.

You can also go to http://www.redcrossblood.org to get more info on blood donating.

I know with everyone's help we can make this a huge success and hopefully this will become an annual part of ConCarolinas.

Respectfully,

Luis Diaz

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Chapter Representative - Charlotte Fan Force
501st Legion/DZ-5232/ Krayt Clan Member
Rebel Legion Blue Ridge Base Commanding Officer
Creatures, Droids and Rebel Supporters Legion Costume Judge
Proud Alien Mercenary of KAG's Xeno Legion
ConCarolinas Secretary/Fan Table Organizer
All Around Geek