I’ve heard the word “hero” defined as “ordinary people doing extraordinary things.” That’s a nice thought because it means that any one person on any given day can be a HERO.

The person who gives blood, learns first aid and CPR or volunteers their time and their skills to help the planet, their fellow man or man’s best friend. It is the person who talks the talk and walks the walk.

So, while I like that definition of hero, I have to say that it isn’t 100-percent accurate. You see, to me, any time anyone gives of themselves -- sharing their time, money, energy and, yes, even their blood and sweat -- they cease to be ordinary.

Speaking of which, I have an extraordinary new friend in my life...a colleague named Tiffany. Tiffany lost her grandmother to breast cancer. To celebrate her grandmother's life, Tiffany has decided to take steps (many, many steps) to help others from this disease. This coming August she is participating in the "The 3-Day," a 60-mile walk over three days to raise money for breast cancer research and treatment.

I'd like to invite you, dear reader, to consider contributing to Tiffany's fundraising campaign. You, too, can be a hero! True, you don't know her. But, then again, she doesn't know the women who will benefit from her contribution either -- that's part of the fun!

Links from this Post

• Support Tiffany's 3-Day Walk
• Give Blood, Give Life - American Red Cross
• Get Trained to Save a Life - American Red Cross
• Volunteer (Volunteers of America) at Your Local Food Bank - Cleveland Food Bank
• Share your time and skills - Habitat for Humanity
• Keep Watch, Take Action, Make Change for the Planet - Ohio Environmental Council
• Offer help and hope to people affected by Alzheimer's - Alzheimer's Association
• Support care for animals - Best Friend's Animal Society (and sanctuary)
• Speak Up for Wildlife - National Wildlife Federation
• Walk for Women - The 3-Day supporting the The Susan G. Komen Foundation

Labels: alzheimers, animals, charity, environment, giving

• The average person creates 4.39 pounds of trash per day.


• People throw away 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour.


• People toss out enough paper and plastic cups, forks and spoons every year to circle the equator 300 times.


• The average office worker goes through around 500 disposable cups every year.


• Nearly 44 million workers purchase or eat lunch out every weekday.


• The amount of glass bottles people throw away every two weeks would have filled both World Trade Center towers.


• People throw away enough aluminum cans to rebuild our commercial air fleet every three months, and enough iron and steel to supply all U.S. automakers every day.


• Throwing away one aluminum can wastes as much energy as if that can were 1/2 full of gasoline.


• A school-age child using a disposable lunch generates 4-8 ounces of waste a day or 67 (to nearly 100) pounds of waste per school year.
  
  SOURCES: Clean Air Council | Waste Reduction & Recycling Program, Waste-Free Lunches and San Mateo County RecycleWorks

• Take fresh fruit - it comes in its own natural, biodegradable wrappers, and most "wrappers" are even edible! (The skins and peels that aren't can be put in a composter, but that's for another post.)


• Re-use cleaned plastic single-serving containers from pudding or fruit cups to separate non-spillable foods in larger containers.


• Purchase silicone cupcake liners; they're great for baking AND make great dividers in a larger container if you need to keep items separate until lunch time.


• Cook extra portions of your favorite foods during the week or do a little extra cooking on weekends to make your own frozen lunch entrees. Use re-usable containers that are freezer safe.


• Select aluminum cans or glass bottles over plastic whenever possible for lunches. While all three can be recycled, plastic is more difficult to recycle and cannot be used to make new food-grade plastic containers while glass and aluminum can be.


• Take home and re-use plastic containers, single-servings cups and bottles as many times as possible before recycling them (see previous bullet point).

• Recycling an aluminum soda can saves 96% of the energy used to make a can from ore, and produces 95% less air pollution and 97% less water pollution.


• Sixty percent of the world's lead supply comes from recycled batteries.


• Recycling one ton of cardboard saves over 9 cubic yards of landfill space.


• One ton of paper from recycled pulp saves:


• 17 trees
• 3 cubic yards of landfill space
• 7,000 gallons of water
• 4,200 kilowatt hours (enough to heat your home for half year)
• 390 gallons of oil, and
• prevents 60 pounds of air pollutants.


• Producing recycled white paper creates:
  
  
  • 74% less air pollutants,
  • 35% less water pollutants, and
  • 75% less process energy than producing paper from virgin fibers.
  
  SOURCE: Clean Air Council | Waste Reduction & Recycling Program

If you’ve read my blog or Web site before, you know that my husband and I have been long-time supporters of the American Red Cross – even before I worked for the organization (Jan. 2004-Apr. 2007).  One important way we contribute is through voluntary blood donations. My husband and I became ongoing donors after our first donation in Feb. 2003, when I convinced him we should donate blood for Valentine’s Day. This is no small feat for him as he is quite phobic about both needles and blood – particularly when either is going into or coming out of him.

I say “ongoing” rather than “regular” because I don’t want to claim what I consider to be the valiant title of “regular blood donor” by implying that we donate every 56 days. That’s the period of time in which you’re physically able to give again – you are eligible every eight weeks, which is up to six times in a year. There are many people who do so – like clockwork – and I hold them in high regard.  

Unfortunately, the best of intentions can get waylaid when things come up or, in my case, go down. Being a woman and a vegetarian, my iron is not always at a sufficiently high level to donate. I have to pay close attention to my diet, take supplements and schedule donation appointments carefully to push me over the line that I am generally at or just slightly below (the hematocrit reading must be at least 38 to give). Mine is never low enough to be a health problem (like full-blown anemia) – just not high enough to give. This means that we usually give more like three or four times a year.

We hadn’t donated since moving home to Cleveland this past March. Not that we didn’t want to, there just seemed to be something always getting in the way – busy with the new house, schedule conflicts, illness, etc.  Most blood collection organizations will tell you that it is a problem all too common in today’s busy households, particularly in the summer months when vacations and the like add to the mix.

Several times over the last few months we talked about giving but hadn’t yet. Then, last weekend, we saw signs for a Red Cross bloodmobile at a local mall that included the alert headline: “Blood Emergency.” We decided it was time. It wasn’t until we pulled into the parking lot that we noticed the signs for the bloodmobile/drive said “this Monday.” Not to let our good intentions lapse yet again, we decided to go home and schedule appointments online (www.givelife.org).  As we were discussing it, I made a profound realization – a connection that surprisingly I hadn’t made sooner.

On Aug. 9, my husband’s Uncle Tom was involved a terrible accident. He was on his motorcycle turning left at a light when someone ran the red light and struck him. He sustained life-threatening injuries, including a compound fracture of his thigh bone, the degloving of his (upper) leg and a nicked artery along with other trauma and contusions. At the hospital, he received blood transfusions while emergency procedures were performed.

As we talked about making the appointments, it struck me that Tom had received blood from someone who took the time to donate it. All the times I had said it (and don’t get me wrong, I always believed it), it had never hit home quite the way it had when I thought of and saw photos of Tom in the hospital’s ICU – when you give blood, you give the gift of life.

See, scientists can’t manufacturer human blood; there’s no way to grow it, replicate it or compel people to provide it. The only way to keep an adequate supply of healthy blood available for those who may need it when they need it, like Tom did, is for people to give it voluntarily.  

When I go today to donate – and hopefully I’ll be iron-fortified enough to do so – I still won’t be thinking about the people who might receive my blood. I’ll spend that hour thinking about and being grateful for the other people – those whose gift is helping save Tom’s life.

In less than an hour, you can do something that can save someone’s life – it’s a gift you give of yourself, literally, to a friend or even a stranger. Give the gift of life – give blood.

Post-Donation Update: That's right "post-donation"! My hemocratic reading was 38, so I was able to give - hurray! That's the update.