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A WGVU initiative in partnership with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation using on-air programs and community events to explore issues of inclusion and equity.

Michigan Blood Offers $10 to Target to O- Donors

Public Domain

Michigan blood is looking for donors with blood type O negative and to bring you out, they’re offering a $10 gift card to the retail store Target.

“O negative blood is a universal blood type, which means that anybody in a trauma situation or a serious illness can take O- blood.”

That’s Carleen Crawford, Community Relations Director at Michigan Blood. She says this is a particularly challenging time of year to get blood of any kind.

“Most of our blood is collected at our mobile drives. And, when the weather is a little bit touchy and schools get cancelled, we lose that ability to connect with donors.”

If $10 and altruism aren’t enough incentive to get you out, how about bragging rights? You could say your blood is worth two bucks more per pint than Dragon’s Milk, a local brew from New Holland, or three bucks more than Blood Orange Honey from Cheboygan.

If you do feel inspired and you want to give O- or any other kind of blood:

“There are several ways to go about donating blood: you can make an appointment at our main grand rapids donor center. Or, you can go online and sign up through our website, myblood.org.”

Mariano Avila is WGVU's inclusion reporter. He has made a career of bringing voices from the margins to those who need to hear them. Over the course of his career, Mariano has written for major papers in English and Spanish, published in magazines, worked in broadcast, and produced short films, commercials, and nonprofit campaigns. He also briefly served at a foreign consulate, organized for international human rights efforts and has done considerable work connecting marginalized people to religious, educational, and nonprofit institutions through the power of story.
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