Rock on, local teens! -

Big props to our local high schoolers! They’re big news on OregonLive today because they donated blood in record numbers this year: 7,941 pints of blood, an 11.8 percent increase from the previous school year. No doubt some of them were partially motivated by this blood drive challenge. Now all who gave blood or volunteered get to see Shwayze in concert at the Roseland for free. Pretty rockin’.

And speaking of rockin’ youth… remember when I told you about Joe, the 16-year-old who helped pass a bill lower the blood donor age requirement in Minnesota? Well, he emailed me back in June, and I wanted to share his message with you. Unfortunately, I got distracted by my trip to Washington, D.C. and never got around to posting it. This seems like the perfect opportunity:

I am the now 16 year old Joe Gibson you mentioned in your May 21, 2008 article on donation age, and I happened to see your blog while randomly surfing red cross sites! I wanted to thank you for the praising comments, and state that without the red cross, none of that would have happened. I was so inspired by the ARC people I worked with on the bill, I have become as active as possible with the ARC. I am now a member of the mid-America board of directors, and I am VERY excited to work with more red cross members! So once again, thank you for the blog and I look forward to reading more of your posts. Together we will make the world a better place! 🙂

Thank you, Joe and all the local teens who are helping to save lives.