Beer Drinkers Benefit From Donating Blood At Bonfils Blood Center
DENVER (CBS4) - Give a pint, get a pint -- that's the new motto for Bonfils Blood Center this month as January is National Blood Donor Month. Donations are down, and they're hoping the new campaign changes that.
"I try to come every Sunday to donate to save lives," blood donor Diane Gibason said.
For more than 40 years Gibason has been donating blood.
"I was in San Francisco in the early stages of the AIDS epidemic and transfusions were important to help AIDS patients feel better," she said.
She's one of the first on Sunday participating in Bonfils' new Give A Pint Get A Pint donation campaign.
"What we are calling it is reinventing happy hour," Julie Scott with the Bonfils Blood Center said.
Scott says winter continues flu season, and bad weather contributes to a decline in supplies.
"We can see about a 20 percent decline in blood donations," she said.
Through January every person donating blood at Bonfils will get a voucher for a free pint of beer at any Rock Bottom restaurant, Old Chicago or Gordon Biersch Brewery.
"You could be helping a car accident victim, a cancer patient, a burn victim; the list goes on," Scott said.
The process takes about an hour, not unlike that of a typical happy hour. Donor's like Gibason are happy to contribute.
"There are also some people who believe that if you drink a Guinness the night before you donate platelets that your platelet count goes up," Gibasom said. "That's not scientifically proven."
New donors also get a chance to win a trip to Mexico.
To find out where to give blood and if you're a qualified donor visit the Bonfils Blood Center website.
