During a recent lunch break at Incept, I was flipping through one of those celebrity gossip magazines.
Normally, I avoid them. In my opinion, all they’re good for is finding a personality quirk or a neat outfit to give to a protagonist in one of my short stories. One of the articles, however, was about what celebrities are doing to help raise money for the victims of the recent earthquake in Japan and the Pacific tsunami. It occurred to me that perhaps there are celebrities who advocate blood donation, as well!
Ironically, a lot of actors who play vampires happen to donate blood! The hit CW show, The Vampire Diaries, teamed up with the Red Cross to encourage teenagers to donate blood. Additionally, several cast members of the Twilight series also give blood.
Musicians are helping out too! Rascal Flatts, the country band, provided free tickets and backstage passes for the Red Cross to use in a drawing. Comedians/illusionists Penn and Teller gave tickets away to hundreds of blood donors in Las Vegas! Heck, even celebrities like Miley Cyrus, Jane Seymour and Kristin Cavallari, Dr. Phil, Jackie Chan and Josh Duhamel are regular blood donors.
The Red Cross even has a “National Celebrity Cabinet” in their organization. It’s an “award-winning combination of well-respected actors, musical artists, television personalities, athletes and other public figures [who] are ‘on-call’ to help the Red Cross by donating their time, skills, passion and energy for a one-year term when it’s needed most.” It’s great that these groups and individuals give their time and money to not only donate blood themselves, but also to encourage others.
What other celebrity blood donor advocates do you know of who deserve recognition?