Spring Break
Ex-marine gives a lot of blood for his community
Cathy Bayer/Staff writer
Issue date: 9/22/05 Section: News
The Marines asked for volunteers to donate blood. As an 18-year-old Marine, Darrell Eaton did not really have a choice in the matter.
"We'll take you, you and you," he recalls an officer saying.
About 60 years, and more than 25 gallons of blood later, Eaton is still donating.
He continues because people are always in need of it.
"You keep making more every day," he said. "So you might as well give it away."
When Eaton, 77, donates blood on Monday it will make a total of 208 pints of blood, or 26 gallons.
The blood drive will be held by the Graywood Foundation-Enterprises, an organization that runs homes for developmentally disabled adults and children in the Charleston and Mattoon area.
The weekend after Hurricane Katrina, clients of Graywood had a meeting.
It was decided that because they did not have money to send and could not head down to New Orleans to help, they could donate blood.
One client pointed out that blood is the gift of life.
They agreed they needed to do something to help the victims, said Deb Gorgol, social service and corporate trainer for the Graywood Foundation-Enterprises.
The blood drive is something the clients of Graywood want; they came up with the idea for the blood drive, Gorgol said.
The clients at Graywood are high functioning, and live in community-integrated-living arrangement homes.
Four youth homes and seven adult homes blend into the community, Gorgol said.
Each home has eight individual clients, where they learn the skills they will need to eventually live on their own, she said.
"They're not 'those people', they're everyday people like you and me that have reached out to help people," Gorgol said.
Local businesses are donating gift certificates, food and beverages to the blood drive.
Raffle tickets will be given to everyone who donates.
K C Summers car dealership in Mattoon is donating a seven-day vacation anywhere in the U.S. as the grand prize for the raffle.
"We'll take you, you and you," he recalls an officer saying.
About 60 years, and more than 25 gallons of blood later, Eaton is still donating.
He continues because people are always in need of it.
"You keep making more every day," he said. "So you might as well give it away."
When Eaton, 77, donates blood on Monday it will make a total of 208 pints of blood, or 26 gallons.
The blood drive will be held by the Graywood Foundation-Enterprises, an organization that runs homes for developmentally disabled adults and children in the Charleston and Mattoon area.
The weekend after Hurricane Katrina, clients of Graywood had a meeting.
It was decided that because they did not have money to send and could not head down to New Orleans to help, they could donate blood.
One client pointed out that blood is the gift of life.
They agreed they needed to do something to help the victims, said Deb Gorgol, social service and corporate trainer for the Graywood Foundation-Enterprises.
The blood drive is something the clients of Graywood want; they came up with the idea for the blood drive, Gorgol said.
The clients at Graywood are high functioning, and live in community-integrated-living arrangement homes.
Four youth homes and seven adult homes blend into the community, Gorgol said.
Each home has eight individual clients, where they learn the skills they will need to eventually live on their own, she said.
"They're not 'those people', they're everyday people like you and me that have reached out to help people," Gorgol said.
Local businesses are donating gift certificates, food and beverages to the blood drive.
Raffle tickets will be given to everyone who donates.
K C Summers car dealership in Mattoon is donating a seven-day vacation anywhere in the U.S. as the grand prize for the raffle.
The Daily Eastern News encourages on-topic, civil discussion on its articles posted online. It is our policy not to screen comments before they are posted or edit them after they are posted. However, we reserve the right to remove comments that are off-topic, malicious, libelous or include excessive foul language. The DEN also reserves the right to turn off all comments on any story it deems necessary.
Comments violating copyright law will also be removed.
Users who repeatedly violate this policy will be banned from commenting.
If you have any questions on our comment policy or wish to report a comment that you feel violates these standards, please e-mail a link to the article to our Online Editor at DENNews.com@gmail.com.