For Harold M., it all started one afternoon while scrolling and deleting spam messages from his phone. He almost deleted what he thought was a suspicious voicemail when he decided to consult with his wife about it instead. The voicemail congratulated Harold on being Vitalant’s July giveaway winner of up to $30,000 toward the purchase of a car.
It’s a good thing Harold’s wife urged him to call back the number on the voicemail — because once he did, he got some specific information from the Vitalant representative that convinced him his victory was real.
“It wasn’t until the $30,000 was sitting in the dealership’s hands that we went from the, ‘I can’t believe this is real’ feeling to the elation of, ‘Wow, this is really happening!’”
Harold won the giveaway, which ran July 9-31, from a random drawing of thousands of donors.
The prize went to a very deserving donor. Harold has been giving blood for over 30 years. Not only is he a
dependable donor, but he’s a blood drive coordinator. In fact, Harold’s qualifying donation occurred July 15 when he gave a Power Red donation at a community blood drive — the drive he proudly coordinates.
“I started donating blood simply to pay-it-forward. As a high school Spanish teacher and activities coordinator in the late 1980s, I thought it would be a great opportunity for the students to have the experience of giving blood. Over the span of my 35-year teaching career, we continued to offer two to three blood drives annually,” Harold said.
After retiring a few years ago, he and his wife agreed to stay active by gardening, camping, fishing, traveling and being active in church and community-related service activities. He thought coordinating blood drives would be a great way to stay involved. So, he approached his local Vitalant donation center in California and asked if his church could host a couple of blood drives this year.
Harold coordinated his first community drive in July, never realizing that July was the month of the car giveaway.
“Having never won anything bigger than a couple of work-related trips, this has been a very surreal experience. How does a nobody, living in a small rural community in northeastern California where the number of cattle outnumber the human population, actually win something of this magnitude? It's still hard to believe, but wonderfully crazy things can happen to anyone."
The car Harold wanted was predetermined, but he hadn’t planned to shop for it for another few years. Winning the $30,000 giveaway expedited things, as he was able to use the full amount toward the purchase of the car.
“After contacting three different Toyota dealerships in our area, we settled on purchasing our RAV4 Hybrid-Woodland Edition from Klamath Falls Lithia Toyota because of their kind and understanding service in meeting our needs. Everything fell into place, and the entire process was completed in just over two weeks. The 100-mile drive home from the dealership finally made this surreal rollercoaster ride a reality.”
When Harold isn’t busy giving blood, coordinating blood drives or winning new cars, he enjoys golfing with his friends and hiking. He has the goal of summiting all the state’s high points in the next 10 years. When his doctor encouraged him to keep donating blood to maintain optimum health, he decided he would continue for as long as he’s physically able.
Harold said, “I have never had to receive blood, but I know how grateful I would be to all the donors if I found myself in the position of needing blood to maintain my life. All it costs is a little time, and it benefits so many others. It’s such an easy way to anonymously give the gift of life.”