Life just got a little bit grander for our November giveaway winners. The Give Thanks Giveaway gave donors the chance to win one of five $5,000 prepaid gift cards when they donated Nov. 1-30.
We are excited to announce our five winners, who were randomly selected from a pool of 105,567 qualifying donors.
Now, let’s roll out the red carpet and shine the spotlight on our wonderful winners!
“It was a great, unexpected holiday gift!” exclaims Pat M., our first winner. Pat is an Illinois donor whose winning whole blood donation occurred at the Villa Park donation center. Although Pat has eight lifetime donations with Vitalant, his last donation was in 2020. We were thrilled to have Pat back with us as a donor in November—a time of critical need going into the holiday season. 
“Most of my career was working in acute care hospital settings, and I was aware of the importance of blood donations. This particular donation was after a hiatus from giving blood due to my schedule, and I was feeling a bit guilty about it, being O-neg and knowing there was a current shortage,” explains Pat. “So, I went online and was able to schedule an appointment at a local donation center within a few hours.”
Pat was not aware of the giveaway, so he was happy and surprised to find out he had won. He plans to continue donating blood as often as his schedule allows.
“It gives me a good feeling I did something for my community. I hope that someone will be there for me if I ever need blood.”
Our second winner is Chloe H. from Arizona. Chloe is a relatively new donor with Vitalant with two lifetime whole blood donations. Her donation at the Banner Boswell Medical Center blood drive qualified her for this giveaway.
A fun fact is that our giveaways are always promoted to blood drive coordinators who might consider having a drive within that timeframe. Katrina E., a senior account manager in Vitalant’s Southwest division, had specifically promoted this giveaway to her blood drive coordinator at Banner Boswell. She was incredibly excited—and rightfully so!—that a donor at one of her drives won.
A Montana resident with 33 lifetime donations, Robert G. is our third winner. Robert’s winning donation was a Power Red at the Billings donation center. We are grateful for Robert’s decision to Power Up for patients, as most of his donations throughout the years have been Power Reds—with three Power Reds this year alone!
Daniel W. of Arizona is our fourth winner. With 20 lifetime donations to his credit, Daniel gave his winning donation at the Corpus Christi Catholic Church blood drive. Daniel has also given blood at the Chandler and Tempe donation centers in the past.
As someone who started giving blood for health reasons, Daniel also acknowledges that it makes him feel good, too.
“I believe it is beneficial mentally and physically for the donor and also the recipient’s benefit,” Daniel says. “I appreciate the flexibility to schedule my appointments based on my busy schedule. Vitalant makes it as easy as possible, and I have always enjoyed the casual conversations with the phlebotomists who work tirelessly to make it as comfortable as possible.”
Daniel plans to continue with a frequent donation schedule, and he feels very fortunate to have won the November Giveaway.
“I am grateful for gift and will surely always provide my blood to Vitalant in the future,” he says.
Excited and shocked were the words our fifth winner, Heather D. of California, used to describe her win.
Heather—who has 14 lifetime donations—started donating blood at age 17 because her mother had recently fought and won her battle against Stage 4 breast cancer.
“One of the biggest reasons she was able to win the battle was because of platelet and blood donations,” says Heather. 
Heather’s winning donation at the Carson City, Nevada, donation center was her first platelet donation. Her donations prior to that had been whole blood. What’s even cooler than Heather Powering Up to try platelets for the first time in November is that she did it again in December—just in time to make a difference over the holiday season.
“It's simple, doesn't hurt, and it feels good to contribute to society in such an important way,” shares Heather.