Pint size just right for Red Cross’ school blood drives

BY NOLAN ROSENKRANS
BLADE STAFF WRITER

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Red Cross nurse Amanda Larkins draws blood from Sara King during a pint size hero drive at Beverly Elementary in South Toledo. Ms. King’s son, John Metzger, a seventh grader at Beverly, kept his mother company at the event Monday. THE BLADE/LORI KING Enlarge | Photo Reprints

Erin Graber spilled blood for jeans.

Not her jeans, but her daughter’s. By donating blood, she earned third grader Caitlin a dress-down day at Beverly Elementary in South Toledo. Of course, the prize was just an added incentive to get families to participate in the pint size hero blood drive Monday at Beverly.

“I like to think it makes me a better mother/human being,” she said.

Pint size hero blood drives are a child-focused initiation into blood donation. Students are taught the basics of blood donation by Red Cross staff, then they volunteer to recruit donors among friends and families. Children are introduced to the process, program coordinator Terri Shinn said, and get to experience doing something good for their community.

“I don’t want those people to hurt,” Caitlin said of people who need blood.

And she wanted to wear jeans.

Schools throughout the area have held the drives since 2003. The program has more than tripled in size, and the Red Cross has more than 100 planned or scheduled this school year, including ones at Toledo public schools such as Hawkins, Arlington, and Raymer.

There’s multiple benefits to the drives, said Bonnie Meridieth, the Red Cross regional director of donor recruitment. Kids learn the importance of donating blood. Eventually, many may give blood themselves.

In addition, young parents who haven’t donated blood since their college days or are completely new to the process end up at the drives at the behest of their children.

Cassie and Charlie Herrmann, 7-year-old twins, focus closely on a bag collecting blood donated by their mother, Bonnie Herrmann. More than 70 adults signed up to participate in the drive Monday. THE BLADE/LORI KING Enlarge | Photo Reprints

A steady flow of parents provided a steady flow of blood Monday at Beverly, with more than 70 adults signed up to donate. Staff set up benches in the center of the school’s gym, and a children’s play corner was set up along one wall.

The child corner is a key for Bonnie Herrmann, president of the Toledo Parent Congress. She’s helped organize pint size hero blood drives for eight years after meeting Red Cross program coordinator Terri Shinn. Blood donation proved tricky for her, Ms. Herrmann said, until the school blood drives, where child care was included.

“I wanted to donate and couldn’t because of the child-care issue [before the drives],” she said.

Kris Gedeon gives blood as often as she can; she’s type O-negative and CMV-negative, making her blood particularly valuable. She was raised in a family that frequently gave blood, and hopes her son, Collin, will pick up the habit when he gets older. For now, though, the third grader was just excited about the slime prize the Red Cross gave students who signed up adults to donate blood.

“He’s all about the slime,” Ms. Gedeon said.

Contact Nolan Rosenkrans at: nrosenkrans@theblade.com or 419-724-6086.

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