I agree, the pin prick is definitely the most painful part.
I occasionally have trouble with my iron, although that’s rarer now that my doctor has me taking a daily iron supplement. One time before the supplements I was rejected and mentioned that the night before, having forgotten that I was scheduled to donate, I had eaten a vegetarian dinner. This was somehow interpreted as “I’'m a vegetarian” and I was given a brochure on vegetarian food rich in iron.
Apparently I only have one good vein and even at that, when I have blood drawn for a physical, they have to use the teensiest needle possible and it takes forever to fill 2 tubes. So I’m not a donor candidate, alas.
B pos here…
My first time was when I was about 17 or so. The hospital called my dad and asked him to come in. I went along, and they said, “Sure - jump up on that cot over there”. Dad said he started when he was in the army. After you donated, they would give you a shot of whiskey, too. He said sometimes people were lined up to give.
And it turned out that they were BUYING blood - a couple of weeks later I got a check for $25 or so in the mail. Back in the mid-70’s, that was a ton of money for a teenager.
I’ve lost count of how many gallons of whole blood I’ve done - probably in the 13-14 gallon range. I’ve done a few double-reds before, but mostly that was single pints. The techs have commented about the amount of scar tissue they feel in my arms several times.
Right now, the local Red Cross calls me once or twice a month for platelets and apheresis. I was there on Tuesday this week, I think, as well as once more about 2 weeks ago. I’ll probably be there again before the end of the month.
I absolutely echo and support the OP. If you want to help your community, and you can meet the requirements, give blood. One unit of whole blood can be split into fractions and potentially save the lives of 3, 4, or maybe more people. It will cost you nothing but time, and you’ll get a warm fuzzy feeling. If you can, bring another person with you.
I first donated in the early 70’s. They’d give you free cigarettes then.
I’m AB+. Wouldn’t be surprised if they turned over the bag of my swill into the gutter after I left. 
I do like to give blood, but I have issues with iron, being female and a non-red-meat eater. I usually get turned away about half the time. Plus, I’m one of those pesky people who they have to jab a dozen times to get it to work. Hell, when I had surgery, they couldn’t even get the IV in my arm - after trying repeatedly on the back of my hand, my wrist, and the crock of my elbow, they finally gassed me because the surgery team was waiting.
So, for a lot of reasons, I go now and then, whenever I can manage keeping up with my iron supplement (doctor recommended, no worries). Hey, it’s an excuse to eat cookies without guilt!
In the Chicago area, Lifesource has this whole points system.
I just ‘bought’ a $25 gas card at their online store (3 donations in one calendar year was enough for that).
O- here. I try to give as often as I can – just hit the 8 gallon mark for donations here in Indiana when I gave on Tuesday. Had another 2+ gallons worth of donations in Washington for the 6 years that we lived in Seattle.
I finally got my little card today - O+. I’m a little bit afraid that the Red Cross is going to be like the military recruiters used to be when I was in high school - luckily it isn’t O-!
The hubby and I would both love to give blood! But they’ve gotten so restrictive on who can give. . .
I have a history of kidney disease, and he (though he’s been in 'Merica for more than 25 years) was in England during the ‘Mad Cow’ thing. So neither of us is eligible.
I do encourage our two grown daughters, though.
As others have said, the process is not bad at all.
If you don’t do anything physically taxing you might be a little lightheaded the first day, but nothing worse than that.
I remember the first time I gave blood at 18, when I got home feeling all good and healthy and was on my bed reading a book. Then I stood up too quickly and suddenly I found myself on the floor on my backside, probably with a surprised look on my face.
Now, the fact that you are a pint down does affect your blood’s oxygen carrying capacity, so if you do strenuous cardio exercise you will find yourself getting winded in an amazingly short time. As I said earlier, I finally stopped donating because I was getting serious into running and was annoyed that I would lose two-thirds of my distance for some days after donating.
I love giving blood. I miss being able to do it. I am pretty my doctor said that I usually could after 5 years. I guess it depends on the blood center.
I used to go and eat a ton of cookies. Pretty much the double or triple, or quadruple the weight of the blood I gave. (I would give plasma, which took forever. But, that meant I could watch movies. That is how I was able to see The Ladykillers. Which was pretty good.) Sometimes they would have packets of peanutbutter. Which I would take extras of and have extra special chocolate chip cookie/peanut butter treats for days!
They would always call me to come back. So, they probably didn’t mind my theft.
They would have to have two sizes of bags to collect the blood in. If you put a half-unit in a full-sized bag, the excess anti-coagulant ruins it.
The United Blood Services bus stops by work three times a year and the boss lets us off to donate. I do the double red. They don’t call like the ARC does. I donated to the Red Cross in Carson City and a couple months after I left they called me on my number down here to ask when I could come in again. I told them I was sorry but I’d moved to Phoenix. “Can’t you come back up for a donation, then?” Uh, it’s a sixteen hour drive or a $200 plane ride; no.
Wow. If I was your gay friend, I would be really insulted by this.
You donated to a bigoted institution, and did so in my name? Do you donate to the Klan in honor of your black friends? To the Nazi party in honor of your jewish friends? Wow.
Thank all of you for giving, because I’ve used my share to keep on living.
Alas, I can’t give because of teh cancer.
Thanks for the cookies.
They used to have two sizes - I am O+ with no CRV antibodies, and I remember as a teenager that because of the CRV thing, they would put my blood into a whole string of little tiny bags to give to preemies. Actually, I think that was one of the things that got me into the habit of donating so regularly - knowing that each donation was going to four little babies was a pretty cool motivator.
They just use the regular bags now, though.
I agree it’s a silly idea – a pint’s a pint regardless of whose name it’s in. But I assume that you’ll refuse a transfusion from this bigoted institution if you’re ever in need of one.