MILLSTADT, Ill. (AP) — An 82-year-old Illinois man who gave blood for the first time in the 1950s to help the war effort has hit the 30-gallon mark for donations.
Marvin Skaer donated blood for the 240th time on Thursday, Jan. 5, at a Red Cross blood drive in Millstadt, near St. Louis, the Belleville News-Democrat reports. Afterward, Red Cross volunteers gave him a cap and pin to commemorate the milestone.
Skaer says “It’s the right thing to do.”
His mother took him to donate the first time in 1953, after his brother had been injured in the Korean War. Since then he’s donated consistently.
Because of Red Cross rules on how often people may give, a donor would have to give a pint about six times per year for almost 37 years to reach 30 gallons.
