Unitarian Universalist Church of Palo Alto

Weaving the Web

February 1, 2009
Rev. Amy Zucker Morgenstern

I grew up knowing that you give part of your income to charity, you give old clothes to Goodwill instead of throwing them out, and you give blood. Our synagogue held blood drives once or twice a year, and my father donated then and in between. My mom couldn't give — just thinking about it made her feel faint — but she also conveyed the idea that it was something you ought to do, if you could. But I was queasy too, even about simple blood tests, so how could I possibly donate blood? I argued with myself that surely the benefit to blood recipients was worth a little discomfort, and I squirmed whenever I heard that supplies were low; but I also reasoned that the Red Cross workers really didn’t want to cope with a fainting donor, so I stayed away.

Then, in 1995, a man with a grudge against my father tracked Dad down at the college where he taught and started stabbing him. Dad’s life was saved by a pair of brave students who heard his cries and wrestled the man to the ground, by a top-notch trauma team at Yale-New Haven Hospital, by a lot of luck, and by his own determination to live.

And by donors’ blood: 40 units just in the first 24 hours. He survived against steep odds, and regained perfect health. Sitting in the hospital those first awful days, I thought, “I owe the world a whole lot of blood.” But it still took me a long time to get over my fear. In the meantime, I passed the center every time I visited a church member at Stanford Medical Center. Always in a hurry, of course. One day last October, as I left the hospital, I looked at my watch and decided to do it.

It was fine. I felt great. I feel great, and a bimonthly donation is now on my calendar. And just this week, our administrator, Jeff, passed an e-mail along to me, asking, “Can we do this?”: the Stanford Blood Center reports desperately low supplies and wants to know if we’d like to hold blood drives at our church. He’ll happily arrange the space; to make it happen, we need a few volunteers, starting with someone who would post publicity and act as a liaison with the blood center. Like donating, it doesn’t take a lot of time, but it does save lives. Let me know if you’d like to help make our church a part of this crucial service.

— Blessings,
Amy