Jamie Doner, left, looks to her friend, Wendy Dravis, as they both donate blood Monday, May 12, at a drive in the Penn Township Municipal Building. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle

Rob McGraw

PENN TWP — For years, four friends have put aside their busy lives about every eight weeks to get together for lunch, with a side of platelets.

The four — Wendy Dravis, Kris Reutzel, Jill Leicher and Jamie Doner — jokingly refer to themselves as the “Blood Club,” because they have used blood donation opportunities around Butler County as the basis of their get-together schedule, which helps them find a common lunch date about every 56 days.

Dravis, of Saxonburg, said the tradition started in 2022, when the friends were looking for a way they could contribute to the community together. Some of them were already registered blood donors, so their community engagement activity was obvious.

“I think a couple of us just had it on our list of things to do and this made it more fun to do it,” Dravis said. “We try to do it every eight weeks. We remember to send out a text when we get it.”

On Monday, May 12, the group convened at a blood drive at the Penn Township Municipal Building, which was hosted by Team Fishguy Transplant Foundation, an organization in which Dravis was once on the board.

Jackie Hutz, co-founder of the foundation, said the Blood Club has attended several of the foundation’s annual blood drives in Penn Township, which has been a boon to the blood supply and has made for a fun connection.

“We thought it was so funny that they donate as a social activity,” Hutz said.

Phlebotomist Autumn Fair, left, preps Wendy Dravis to donate blood Monday, May 12, at a blood drive at the Penn Township Municipal Building. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle

Rob McGraw

The American Red Cross worked the blood drive May 12, which is the agency Team Fishguy typically works with on its annual blood drive. All of the donation slots for the drive were completely booked up, so the four members of the Blood Club went to their donation chairs one by one to have their blood drawn.

Team Fishguy is named after Bill Hutz, of Penn Township, who was known as the “Fishguy” because he found work installing aquariums in people’s homes. He was undergoing kidney dialysis and was forced to close his aquarium business due to failing health. He needed a kidney transplant to survive.

After getting a transplant from Chattanooga, Tenn., native Oma Palmer in 2018, Bill and Jackie Hutz created the Team Fishguy Transplant Foundation in 2019, which is dedicated to supporting transplant patients and donors, and raising awareness for organ donation.

Jackie Hutz said the Team Fishguy foundation has planned a blood drive every year for seven years now, to coincide with National Donate Life Month, which takes place in April. Bringing people in to donate blood also is a way to alert people to the possibility of donating organs.

“We do this to raise awareness for organ transplants and the need for blood,” Hutz said. “This can help us get the word out about donating organs.”

According to Donate Life, a living donor is an option for patients who otherwise may face a lengthy wait for an organ from a deceased donor. Kidney and liver transplant candidates who are able to receive a living donor transplant can receive the best quality organ much sooner, often in less than a year.

More than 100,000 people are waiting for lifesaving organ transplants; 86% of which are waiting for a kidney, according to Donate Life. Donate Life’s website says that 6,953 lives were saved thanks to living donors.

Reutzel, of Middlesex Township, said the first blood drive she attended with her three friends was the start of a nice tradition, even though they missed out on getting lunch together before the May 12 drive.

“I think we wore masks to the first one we did. It was 2022,” Reutzel said. “I think we wanted to get together to do something good.”

Jill Leicher, back, donates blood Monday, May 12, at the Penn Township Municipal Building . Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle

Rob McGraw

Jorge Martinez, CEO of the American Red Cross of Greater Pennsylvania, said the agency is indebted to the people who make blood donations regularly because the blood supply has to be continuously replenished.

“Regular donors are the unsung heroes of our health care system, providing a lifeline that medicine cannot manufacture,” Martinez said. “Your commitment to donating every couple of months creates a sustainable blood supply and helps give patients another tomorrow.”

The rate of blood donations typically slows down in the summer, according to the Red Cross, so the agency urges donors to book blood and platelet donation appointments throughout the summer. Donors of all blood types — especially those giving Type O blood — are needed now for people counting on blood products for critical medical treatments.

Type O is the universal blood group and what emergency room personnel reach for when there is no time to determine the blood type of patients in the most serious situations, the Red Cross said. Whole blood donors can give every 56 days — up to six times a year.

Martinez said group initiatives to donate blood are particularly helpful in keeping the blood supply up.

“Whether it’s a group of friends, work colleagues or a church group, there’s something powerful about sitting side by side, knowing you’re doing what you can to directly help people in need,” Martinez said.

Doner, of Adams Township, said donating blood has become a little more fun thanks to the company of her friends.

“It’s hard to get together socially that often,” Doner said.

Wendy Dravis, of Saxonburg, gives blood Monday, May 12, at the Penn Township Municipal Building. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle

Rob McGraw

Phlebotomist Rob Chernicky collects blood samples from Wendy Dravis, of Saxonburg, Monday, May 12, at the Penn Township Municipal Building. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle

Rob McGraw

Phlebotomist Rob Chernicky collects blood samples from Wendy Dravis, of Saxonburg, on Monday, May 12. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle

Rob McGraw

Kris Reutzel, of Middlesex Township, donates blood Monday, May 12, at the Penn Township Municipal Building. Rob McGraw/Butler Eagle

Rob McGraw