Airstreamers roll up their sleeves
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In the spirit of giving back, the Airstream Club International Rally held its fifth annual blood drive this week on Aug. 24-26. Donations were open to both Airstreamers who have come from all over the country, and local residents in an effort to rise awareness and collect blood for local hospitals.
"The community response has been very good and the Airstream response has been phenomenal," Scott Graham, the blood drive committee chairman said. "This is our fifth year at the international rally and we've met our goal and exceed our goals every year. It's been very successful."
Airstreamers, along with the help from local residents, collected nearly 170 units of blood from around 200 donors, according to Sherrye McCabe, marketing and communications manager for the Airstream Club International.
“This is a record for us and represents the possibility of saving over 500 lives. This is giving back to Minot,” McCabe said.
According to Graham, the blood drive started at a different rally in 2022 but has grown quickly. Graham attributed the growth to the Airstream community, saying giving back was in the nature of the people.
"We've collected more and more units of blood every year and part of that is because Airstreams like to give back," Graham said. "In the nature of us giving back, this is one of the easiest and most personal ways that anybody can give back."
Blood drives are a way to donate money and resources to the community and the greater region area by directly saving lives, strengthening the local healthcare systems and giving participants a sense of unity. Donation drives additionally provide education and awareness to the local area.
As a retired hospital administrator, Graham explained, typically fewer than 10% of the community is interested in giving blood. After the initial questionnaire, the 100 who show up could be sliced down because maybe only 40% are eligible. Graham went on to say that Airstream rallies are a good place to hold drives because of the number of potential donors.
"One of the things about the Airstream community, even if you apply the basic figures to it, is that we have a pool of 2,000 attendees. I’ve got about 1,000 of them that are eligible," Graham said. "My goal is to try and get more and more every year."
Graham said those who donate need their IDs, but overall, the process only takes around 30 minutes. While the questionnaire beforehand may be a bit tedious, because of the shortage worldwide and nationally, giving blood is important for saving lives.
The committee chair and the Airstream organizers look to specifically target local collection agencies because it allows blood to stay in the community hospital system. Graham said even though most donations stay local, if the need for a specific or rare blood type is needed elsewhere, then it’s shipped to those hospitals to save children, pregnant mothers and those who may be in the emergency room for accidents.
"We – or I specifically - target local blood collection agencies because for the most part, blood stays local. This will go into Vitalant, into a pool, and it then goes to local and regional hospitals," Graham said. "We want it to stay local, but not all blood stays local. The rare blood types go into a database that may get shipped anywhere in the United States, but that’s because they're rare."
The chairman shared how his blood that he donated in Pennsylvania went to a young girl, demonstrating that most of the blood collected stays local.
"I gave blood in New York, Pennsylvania last year," Graham said. "Less than three weeks later I got a note from the blood collection agency and they told me that my blood had been used for a 7-year-old girl in the local community."
Organizers of the blood drive and Airstream rally understand that for these rallies to happen, the community has to welcome them. Graham said the right thing to do in return is to say thank you.
"It's the right thing to do," Graham said. "We come into their community. We expect them to welcome us. This is our way of saying thanks. We come into your community. We want you to know that we care."
While giving blood may be a daunting task for those who are fearful of needles or who are hesitant in general, Graham’s advice is to just show up. He said he understands those who are fearful but said to give it a chance anyway.
"Just give it a try. People say they're afraid of needles or ‘I've never given it before.’ Just try," Graham said. "I give blood every chance I get and I am unable to watch the needle. I've never been able to do that. She put the needle in my arm and I didn’t even know. So, don't be afraid, just give it a chance."