Pizza a bloody good way to thank donors

UPDATE: Pizzaville Barrie South is going to donate free pizzas for donors every Tuesday &  Thursday afternoon! Yahoo, the power of the pen!

I’ve written before about the precious substance that’s within you to recycle: your blood. The need remains great; just turn the pages of this newspaper or turn on the TV to see examples of people in bad accidents, or needing special surgery, who must have blood transfusions to survive.

The greatest barrier to maintaining sufficient blood supplies isn’t really supply, of course – if each eligible person gave every 2 months, they’d have to start turning people away! But that’s sadly not the case. The last time I was at the Barrie clinic at Bayview & Little, there wasn’t even a line-up and I was processed through right away. Clearly there is capacity for more donors, and every pint donated means one less that must be purchased from some other jurisdiction, at cost to our already overburdened health care system.

Of course, the thought of giving blood gives many people pause, any who have issues with needles or the sight of blood, or folks in white coats. This is a learned fear, though, one many can overcome with a bit of willpower. For others, starting early is a key. That’s why I try to bring my young daughters with me whenever I donate. They get to see the process from start to finish and learn firsthand that it’s not really painful or icky, and of course the staff and volunteers are very friendly and helpful. When my eldest turns 17 and becomes eligible to donate, she plans to celebrate her birthday by visiting the blood clinic, daring all her friends to join her in becoming donors. (I’m pretty sure vampire romances will still be popular with teen girls, I sense a theme party coming…)

That's-a one bloody good-a pizza pie!

But that brings me to another donation needed at Canadian Blood Services’ Barrie Clinic – pizza! Part of what made it easy to bring my daughters to the clinic was the slice of fresh pizza offered after a donation. Sadly, though, the clinic has had to cut their pizza budget, and will have to rely on donations to keep donors fed with something hot & fresh. Barrie-headquartered Topper’s Pizza donates pizza at lunch time each Thursday, which is greatly appreciated, and aligns well with their year-round support for SickKids Foundation. But that leaves a pizza gap for the Tuesday & Thursday afternoon/evening hours, for people who can’t donate in the mid-day.

Do you think another Barrie pizza outlet might step up to fill in the gap, delivering some fresh pizza each Tuesday or Thursday afternoon around 4:30? I bet they will, if you help! Find the Facebook or Twitter account of your favourite local pizza outlet and post a link to this article, or clip it out and bring it in to the counter, and let them know that you’d be thrilled if their bloody delicious pies were available to replenish the spirits – and nutrients – of Barrie’s blood donors. I’m sure if you do, then they’ll listen to you and step up to do their part for those in need.

Any pizza place willing to help the community this way can contact Julie Rose at Canadian Blood Services at (705) 792-2566 or Julie.Rose@blood.ca. Give blood, give pizza, either way – give!

Published as my Root Issues column in the Barrie Examiner.

Erich Jacoby-Hawkins is a director of Living Green and the Robert Schalkenbach Foundation.