But not right this minute. Find a blood drive near you and let a trained professional do it. Unless, of course, you have some kinky Dracula vibe going on.

Any of you looking to do something good, and easy, giving The Red Cross your red and white blood cells is your answer. Oh, and your platelets. Find a drive near you, make an appointment, go there, take a quick mini-health test, look away from the needle, sit back, hold the gauze firmly until they put the band aid on, and then go have a free snack and fruit juice. You might even get a free towel, or gift certificate, or pint of ice cream*. Blood drives often have free stuff, a bonus on top of how good you’ll feel.

A nice thing about giving blood these days is the Red Cross “Blood Donor APP” you can download on your iphone or andoid. Use it to locate, make, cancel, or rearrange your donation dates. Use it at home to fill out the 1 million question health form necessary to donate. Kidding, the form is only about 30 yes or no questions about health activities in the last 48 hours. There will be a few people who will not be able to answer “No” to every question, but not you, right? Right?

The completed questionnaire gives you a “Rapid Pass” certificate that speeds up your on-site donation time. If you forgot or didn’t have time at home, you can go to the donation site and answer the questions there, too, it only takes about 15 minutes. Note to future donators: the Rapid Pass is only good for the day of your donation, and you need a new one every time you donate, which you can do in another 56 days. Unless you’re a Super Red or Platelet donor. What are those? Get the APP and find out.

The APP will also supply you with a Donor Card with a Donor ID you can use at any blood drive to save time registering.

Finally, after your blood has been collected the APP will show you the “journey” your blood takes from collection to…drum roll….saving a life! The APP actually tells you that, and sometimes it is more than one life! After my first donation, I followed each of my blood steps from Donation to Processing to Testing to Storage and finally to Completion. The App then said this exactly: “You have saved more than one life.” Would reading that make your day just a little bit better? It also tells you where the life is that you saved. Most donations stay local, but my last “packet of blood” went from Upstate Central New York to Yale New Haven Hospital, New Haven, Connecticut. Ivy League Yale must have wanted some intelligent blood, so they asked for mine.  

Kidding, but maybe not?

Donating blood is not for everyone. Some may currently have—or have had in the past—medical situations preventing blood donation. The best way to find out if you can or you can’t donate is ask your medical professionals. If you aren’t seeing one soon, you can make a donation appointment, use the APP to see any potential problems, and during the mini-checkup The Red Cross Blood Collectors (NOT Vampires) will help determine if you can or can’t donate.  Most times when someone can’t, they will be able to later, so find out.

I volunteer for The Red Cross and it is the most rewarding thing in my senior life. If you are retired, or even young and still working, look into volunteering. The Red Cross is not just blood, it is Disaster Relief and Preparedness, too. And in every disaster The Red Cross supports, it is primarily depending on volunteers. Like you and me. Check it out. We need you.

You may be reading this in a country or region where there is no “Red Cross”. Doesn’t matter. There is some organization like The Red Cross where you live. Find it and volunteer.

Yes, you can that NOW. Go.

*My first donation gave me coupon for a free pint of Stewarts Ice Cream. I am now addicted to Stewarts’ Black Cherry Ice Cream. Do NOT schedule an intervention.