REDFORD TWP. — With Christmas approaching, several parishioners stayed after Sunday Mass at St. Robert Bellarmine Parish to give a gift a little more personal than most — a gift of their own blood.
“We always get a good response at this time of year. With the spirit of giving, it’s really nice,” said Kathy Hellen, who coordinates blood drives four times a year at the Redford Township parish.
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St. Robert Bellarmine was among a number of local Catholic parishes hosting Red Cross blood drives last weekend, and a number of others held theirs the week before or on other recent weekends.
“I try to do it three or four times a year,” said Kevin McNulty, 43, who was among several dozen parishioners volunteering to give blood Dec. 9.
Denise Zuzow was giving blood for the third time, but it was a different holiday that prompted her to start.
“My father, Earl Monforton, was a multiple-gallon donor, and I remember him having a pin the Red Cross gave him in recognition, but for a long time I was afraid to give blood,” said Zuzow, 59.
“Then, when they happened to hold the blood drive here right on Father’s Day, I decided that in honor of Dad I was going to do it,” she said.
While it was a personal reason that prompted her to become a blood donor, Zuzow makes a case for everyone responding to the call to give. “It’s a way to give back, to help others, and without hurting ourselves in any way. It’s something we should do,” she said. It’s also a way for those in tight financial situations to give something back.
There is a brief pre-screening for volunteer donors to see whether they can, in fact, give blood that day; then, blood is drawn from those who can give; followed by a period for recovery, aided by juice and cookies.
“We’ll see about 40 people, and hope to get 31 pints of blood, because some people can’t give because of low iron content or other reasons,” Hellen said.
Said Red Cross spokeswoman Martha Kurtz: “We’ve had a longtime relationship with the Catholic parishes here in southeast Michigan,” and added that 145 parishes have (or will have) partnered with the Red Cross on 347 blood drives during 2012.
“Holidays are a particularly difficult time for us,” Kurtz said, but not so much because of increased demand for blood. Rather, it’s that blood donations tend to fall, so that there is less supply to meet the demand.
“Especially this time of year, when you have three holidays so close to each other — Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s — people get so busy that many of our regular donors either don’t have the time or don’t take the time to give blood,” she said.
She said O-negative blood is particularly in demand at all times, because it is the “universal blood type,” which can be used for transfusions even if a patient has blood of a different type. But she said all negative blood types are particularly needed.
