Man’s 200th blood donation marks different kind of holiday giving

As shoppers scrambled for the best Black Friday bargains, Stanley Rodgers waited in line on a southwest Macon sidewalk.

Reading a paperback copy of “The Executioner,” Rodgers stood outside with a few others at the old blood donation center on Bloomfield Road.

Like the folks snatching up the specials at the shoe store next door, Rodgers was in a giving mood.

That happens to him quite regularly — about every 56 days.

Rodgers, 71, rolls up his sleeves every other month and donates a pint of his O-negative blood.

In all those years, he’s only been turned down twice, and that was because he showed up on the 55th day after donating and had to wait a day.

He’s known as a “universal giver” because anyone can accept his blood.

Since the 1960s when he donated at the American Red Cross headquarters on Holt Avenue, he has been donating blood as often as he can.

“Are you allergic to iodine or betadine?” asked the phlebotomist, swab in hand.

“I haven’t been allergic the last 199 times. Not yet,” Rodgers said as he sat back on a gurney.

Friday morning marked his 200th pint — or 25 gallons.

To prove it, he had the American Red Cross “golden drop 25” pin on his black faux fur hat.

Named for his father’s Army buddies, Stanley Boyd Rodgers served in the Navy in the late ‘60s during the Vietnam War and again from 1979 to 1987, he said.

He continues to serve through his blood donations.

“Something I can do to help out a lot,” Rodgers said. “I enjoy doing it.”

Only 7 percent of the population has O-negative blood, and sharing it is a priority for Rodgers.

After his morning routine of a cup of oatmeal with three scoops of sugar, a jumbo egg and a strip of turkey bacon, he was first in line to donate at 11 a.m. Friday.

He recommends giving blood at least twice a year.

“You’ll cut your risk of having a heart attack by 50 percent,” he said.

According to his dog-eared, two-year pocket calendar with kittens on the cover, his next donation will be Jan. 9.

By mid-December, he’ll get a card in the mail letting him know where his blood went.

When thinking about the people he’s poured out his heart to over the years, Rodgers said: “They’ve got some good blood.”

This story was originally published November 24, 2017 at 2:42 PM with the headline "Man’s 200th blood donation marks different kind of holiday giving."