Blood donor clinics this week

Holidays are a time of celebration, families, togetherness and giving. The Canadian Blood Services would like folks to stop making endless trips to the mall in December, and urges folks to donate blood instead.

They say consumerism can take a financial and a time-consuming toll on everyone. In a recent Ipsos-Reid poll it found that 70-percent of Canadians would rather put emphasis on meaningful gift giving and spending this season.

The Canadian Blood Services is holding clinics at the Elks Lodge in North Bay this week.

The clinic will run on Wednesday from 11:30am to 2:15pm, and then from 4 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. And on Thursday from 12:00pm to 2pm and again from 4pm to 6:30pm.

Top Ten Reasons For Donating Blood This Holiday:

1. Nobody will ever try to exchange your gift. No re-gifting, either.

2. Everyone knows someone who is just impossible to buy for.

3. Wrapping is not an issue.

4. Giving blood doesn’t have any calories.

5. Your credit card gets a holiday, too.

6. Forget making six trips to the mall. Giving blood takes only an hour – and they give you a cookie.

7. You can certainly claim you made your gift.

8. Not everyone is home for the holidays. Some Canadians are hospitalized over the holidays fighting injuries and diseases that require blood and blood products for treatment.

9. You can give blood every 56 days – that’s Christmas six times a year

10. One donation can save up to three lives.