Cooper, 6
Glens Falls, NY
Cooper helps recruit blood donors each year for our annual blood drive in memory of his Grandfather, who we lost to leukemia.
We lost Cooper’s Grandfather, Stephen Ives in 2013 after a hard fought battle with leukemia. During his fight he received considerable quantities of donated blood and platelets. In his memory, our family hosts an annual Red Cross Blood Drive each January. This past January was our 5th annual drive. Each year, Cooper has become more and more involved from helping man our registration table, to distributing flyers to his teachers, to helping me register appointments in the online scheduling system. He wants to help spread the message about the importance of blood donation to help others have a fighting chance to live. This past year he submitted this letter to our local newspapers encouraging people to donate blood at our drive.
Dear Editor,
I am writing to convince you to donate blood at the 5th Annual Stephen E. Ives Blood Drive. Did you know giving blood makes you feel good because you are helping others? I found out that every two seconds someone in the U.S. needs blood, and only 2 out of 100 Americans actually donate.
My Grandpa Ives was an artist; he battled cancer and needed the help of people who donated. Millions of new people are told they have cancer every year and many of them will need blood.
I will be volunteering at the blood drive for the second year! You can come see me, donate blood and have some cookies!
Please donate blood at the blood drive and help those in need.
Sincerely,
Cooper Ives (Age 9- Glens Falls, NY-Big Cross Street Elementary)
Cooper is a shy kid at times, and doesn’t love a lot of recognition, but I think winning this award would help spread his mission by raising awareness to the need of blood donation and educating people at an early age to raise a generation of donors.