GeekWebGuides 2020 Blood Drive

GeekWebGuides is pleased to announce our Eleventh Annual GeekWebGuides Blood Drive, throughout the month of May 2020. Our goal is to save lives by increasing the number of life-saving donations of blood, platelets, and plasma. While most blood drives are specific to a geographic location, our blood drive is online and worldwide.

Over the past 10 years, GeekWebGuides Blood Drives have recorded donations of 699 units of blood, platelets, and plasma, and celebrated new signups for the organ donor and bone marrow registries. We've heard from people whose lives were saved by these donations, including lives saved by complete strangers.

Donating during the coronavirus pandemic

Circumstances are different this year due to the worldwide pandemic, but the need for blood continues.

To donate, you will likely need to go to a nearby blood donation center because blood donation events (such as community bloodmobile visits) have been canceled. Be assured that donation centers have taken extra precautions to protect donors, including keeping donors separated from each other and doing extra screening.

If you acquired COVID-19 and have fully recovered, you may be eligible to donate plasma for the convalescent plasma trials underway at major blood collection centers. Researchers hope to learn if your plasma contains COVID-19 antibodies that can help seriously ill COVID-19 patients recover.

How to participate in the GeekWebGuides Blood Drive - during May 2020

1. If you are an eligible donor, schedule a blood, platelet, or plasma donation (see FAQ), at any donation center near you. Then post in the GeekWebGuides 2020 Blood Drive! thread to tell us about it.

   Or tell us if you register as an organ donor and/or register for the bone marrow registry (see FAQ). You'll be put on our Honor Roll.

2. If you aren't eligible to donate for reasons of age, health, a recent donation, or because you are deferred as a donor, please encourage someone else to make a donation, and let us know. If they donate, you'll both be put on our Honor Roll. See our Blood donor eligibility thread for news about the deferral policies for gay men.
3. Share our message with friends, relatives, and followers. Thank the people who post in the GeekWebGuides 2020 Blood Drive! thread.

How to participate in the GeekWebGuides Blood Drive - from June 2020 to April 2021

In between the GeekWebGuides Blood Drives each May, record your donations on our Team GeekWebGuides page:

1. Go to our team page and click PLEDGE TO GIVE BLOOD. (Bookmark the page for the future.)
2. Fill in your GeekWebGuides username as your first name. Fill in @ GeekWebGuides as your last name.
3. In the comments field, tell us what type of donation and how many units, e.g., 1 unit of whole blood, 2 units of platelets, etc.
4. The email address and zip code fields don't matter. GeekWebGuides won't use that information.
5. We'll tally your donations and count them for the GeekWebGuides Blood Drive next May.

We look forward to another successful GeekWebGuides Blood Drive. Thank you to our many donors over the last 10 years!