Not long after my recent blood donation, I got another email from the Red Cross.  I almost deleted it thinking it was another “come give blood” message that hadn’t caught up – but opened it and realized it was a thank you.

And a reward!

The message thanked me for my recent donation and gave me a link where I could get a free gift certificate.  The text read:

“To patients across the country, your generous donation means the world. You deserve a reward. But in case you don't want to claim your gift, you can always donate it back to the Red Cross and do even more to help those in need.”

Then two buttons – Return gift  or Claim gift  – and the text:

“Contributing gifts back to the Red Cross further supports our lifesaving mission.”

I can’t tell what the gift certificates might include or what the amount is until I claim the gift. So, the dilemma:

  1. Do I claim the certificate, knowing that I might not even use it and let it go to waste.  Or:
  2. Do I donate it back?

I may be reading more into this, but I think I smell a guilt trip.  “You could take this gift certificate if you’re, you know, a total selfish asshole and hate your fellow man.  Or, you could donate that right back and we could do something noble with it like – I don’t know, save lives or something?”

My first thought was, “well, I’ve donated gallons of blood and if they want to reward me, great!”

But then, I remember being at a blood drive at a Best Buy where they donated 5 dollar gift cards for donating blood. A woman came in and they asked if she would do a double red.  She asked in return if she would get two gift cards.  A little taken aback, they said no, she would only get one.  She then decided to just do a regular single donation.

I remember being angry at her for basing her donation on the reward.  As though it had cheapened the experience for all of the donors there and made less about doing good and more about “gettin’ paid”.

So, if there’s a chance to do a little bit more good related to my blood donation, I kinda feel like I should do that.  I’m not excited about how they presented it, but I did some good and got a good story out of the experience and that counts for quite a bit with me.

Sight unseen, I’m returning the gift.  And come October, I’ll be back to donate again.

And I’m going to eat 2 packages of cookies along with my orange juice.