Ways to Do Good in Central Ohio: Do More Than Just Write a Check

1. Donate blood. It is easy, it takes only an hour, it does a lot of good in the world, and you can do it several times a year. Blood drives are easy to find in Columbus. There is always a mall, church, school sponsoring them in every neighborhood. Columbus also has several blood donor centers where you can walk in any time and donate. These centers allow you to make an appointment if you'd like and go on the weekends or after work.

It is easy to give blood too. It sounds a lot scarier than it is. You sign in, fill out some paperwork for about 5 minutes and then someone comes and takes you back to a little cubicle. In that cubicle, they take a small pinprick of your blood to test your iron level (if your iron is too low, you can't donate that day), take your blood pressure, check your photo ID, and set you up on a computer to answer a series of probably thirty questions about your medical history. The questions ask things like "Have you traveled to the UK before 1980 and stayed for more than six months?" Pretty specific stuff. Your answers remain confidential so if you have had sex with a male prostitute since 1970 (also one of the questions), no one has to know.

If your iron is good and you have answered the questionnaire successfully, you go over to a little plastic beach chair where they have you sit down and put your feet up. They clean your arm with iodine, insert the needle (feels like a pinch-I always look away), and set you up. I recommend you bring a book or magazine although sometimes there are TVs on. You fill up a little pint bag in about half hour. They take the needle out, give you a bandaid, and send you over to get a little bag of cookies. It's really easy and the whole process takes about an hour.