My friend, Pang, and I showing off our donor bandages.

I have written about ARUP Blood Services numerous times as this is my favorite volunteer experience.  You can read some of my previous posts here, here and here.  I will put in yet another plug, though, that they are always looking for blood and platelet donors as they are the sole providers for many of the local hospitals (including Huntsman Cancer Institute).  You can get more information from their site.

The University Venture Fund is another great organization, a student ran venture capital firm with $18m to invest.  (You can read a previous post of mine here.) If you are a student based in Utah, this is an excellent opportunity and I would greatly urge you to get involved.  If you are an investor, consider partnering with this group.  They provide free due diligence with the hopes of piggy-backing on investments.

Have any of you readers volunteered this week?  If so, with what organizations?

Japan has one of the highest suicide rates in the world, with one out of 5 men and women seriously considering taking his/her life.  In the past, economic recessions have increased this count, a result being seen again in today’s economic environment.

Yukio Shige, a retired policeman, has spent the last 5 years patrolling the Tojinbo cliffs, a place where many desperate folks come to commit suicide by jumping the 82 feet into the Sea of Japan.  Since 2004 he has roamed the cliffs 2 or 3 times a day in hopes of finding these people in need, trying to dissuade them from the act.  When successful, he takes them back to his counseling office, offers them tea, listens to their troubles, and then proceeds to help them resolve the issues including personally going with them to confront people.  He has been funding his work through donations and his retirement funds, saving over 180 lives to date.

Inspirational!

What can we do to help others in these rough economic waters?  Many of us obviously do not have the time or money to make an impact like Shige, but we definitely can do smaller acts. How about freely opening up the rolodex to make an introduction for a job seeking friend?  Perhaps take time to visit with someone over lunch?  Volunteer to help those in greater need? Try to better understand the depression others could be feeling and the best ways to respond? Inquire how you can be of assistance?

What are your thoughts?

Utah Blood (also known as ARUP Blood Services) is the sole provider of  blood to Huntsman Cancer, Primary Children’s Hospital, Shriner’s Hospital for Children and University of Utah Hospital and Clinics.  These four (out of the total of 43) Utah hospitals represent 25% of the needed blood in Utah with any donations made directly helping someone within the SLC community.

Utah Blood is constantly trying to expand their platelet donor base as they need 25 people a day to fulfill the platelet needs within these four hospitals.  A platelet donation can be a bit more time consuming than a blood donation, taking anywhere from 80 minutes to 2 hours, but donors are constantly needed due to the short shelf life, a mere 5 days, of platelets.

For more information visit their site, subscribe to their Blood Blog, join their Facebook page or follow their twitter stream.  Or to make an appointment at their Research Park or Murray location, call 801-584-5272.

This Week’s Service

This week I worked with the organization No More Homeless Pets in Utah, this being my first time to volunteer with this group.  No More Homeless Pets in Utah’s  mission is to end the euthanasia of dogs and cats in Utah and to promote humane alternatives for feral cats. They have a no kill policy, sheltering the animals until adoption. I was introduced to the group by my friend Melissa, a strong advocate for animal rights who regularly helps out NMHPU and has fostered pets.

Each week No More Homeless Pets brings the animals to either the West Valley or Taylorsville PetSmart (PetSmart has partnered with NMHPU) to try and find them a home with a shopper.  NMHPU showcases their pets for the whole day, therefore needing volunteers to help walk and play with them.  I showed up at 10:30am and stayed until 1:30pm, walking and playing with each animal as my friend and other volunteers (who had worked with this non-profit previously) spoke with customers about the pets.  It was yet another fabulous volunteer experience.

Hanging out with my friend Melissa and Sparky, one of the dogs up for adoption.  Sparky is a 9-month-old pit bull and a fabulous dog.  He is completely mellow, a snuggler and great with other animals.

Interested in Helping?

There are many ways to help No More Homeless Pets in Utah.

1. Adopt a Pet – The animals in this program are excellent animals, many of which have been pulled off of euthanasia lists due to their high likelihood for adoption.  Adopting a pet through this program saves an animal from unnecessary euthanasia and gives another animal a second chance.  You can view the available animals on Petfinder.  Petfinder and the NMHPU also list which PetSmart the animals will be at that week so that you can meet and play with them in person.
2. Volunteer – No More Homeless Pets is always in need of volunteers and lists their current needs on their site.
3. Foster a Pet – With the no kill policy, No More Homeless Pets is often in need of additional temporary homes for dogs.  Fostering a pet opens up more room for NMHPU to bring on additional animals. If interested in fostering a pet, visit this link.
4. Donate to the Cause – Like many organizations, donations are needed to keep the organization going.  The organization gladly accepts non-monetary donations such as toys, pet food, leashes and cleaning supplies.
5. Vote for NMHPU to Receive A Grant – Rescue Site gives out grants to shelters. You can vote for No More Homeless Pets in Utah, using these instructions.

Staying Informed

If you want to stay up to date with the progress of NMHPU, you can read about their current events on their site, subscribe to their newsletter, or follow them on Twitter.

Numerous posts and tweets have been hitting the Utah scene lately concerning Phil Burn’s daughter, Serenity, being diagnosed with Leukemia. I blogged a couple days ago about the new Chip In Widget, created by Jesse Stay, that thankfully has been distributed amongst a handful of bloggers and is seeing a good up-tick in donations.

However, there is another way to help out.

I truly try to volunteer on a weekly basis (often posting about my experiences on the Cragbaby here, here and here), with my very favorite volunteer activity being donating platelets at ARUP. I have been donating platelets since last summer, trying to give every other week, health permitting. I find it to be the easiest form of service because by sitting and watching a movie (albeit with a needle in my arm) I can directly impact a life.

I choose to donate at ARUP because all donations are used at the local hospitals, helping cancer, transplant and traumatic injury patients. Platelets only have a shelf life of a five days resulting in a continual need. To date I have only been at the ARUP lab on one occasion where I was told they were finally catching up with demand, though they expected to be behind within the next couple days.

The UtahBlood site shows where units of blood are being used. (I am not quite sure if this includes platelet distribution.)

If interested in the Serenity cause or are looking for a fantastic volunteer activity, consider platelet donation. An appointment with ARUP can be made by calling 801-524-5272.