1 Running head: DONATE TO THE RED CROSS

Donate to the Red Cross: A Persuasive Speech Presented in Comm 1100 Sec 011D Andrea Meredith University of Connecticut

2 DONATE TO THE RED CROSS: A Persuasive Speech Presented in Comm 1100 Sec 011D I. Attention I hope that most of you have heard of the American Red Cross. It is an institution that was founded in 1881 and helps millions of people around the world everyday. However, it is mainly a volunteer organization and they need as many people to help as possible. Im here to give you some background and show you important ways you can help. (American Red Cross, 2011) A. Getting involved in the Red Cross can be very simple and there is more than one-way to become involved (American Red Cross, 2012). 1. The three main ways to help are to donate, volunteer or give blood. The most common route people take to help the Red Cross is to give blood. (American Red Cross, 2012). a. Many people do not know that there are 4 different types of blood to donate. The most common is whole blood but the other three are vitality important and they are platelet apheresis, plasma apheresis and double red cell. (American Red Cross, 2012). 2. Volunteers are always needed but one donation area that is overlooked in monetary donations. (American Red Cross, 2012). a. The Red Cross generally has an income around $3.5 billion dollars, which seems great until you realize that the expense of running the Red Cross takes about $3.3 billion dollars. So if any year, over $3.3 billion dollars isnt raised, then the Red Cross cannot pay for its expenses. (Charity Navigator, 2010).

3 DONATE TO THE RED CROSS b. About 92% of the money raised by the Red Cross goes right back into the system for its expenses. Only 3% of the income is used to pay employees. The President and CEO of the Red Cross makes under $100,000 annually, which is 0.02% of the companies income. (Charity Navigator, 2010). TRANSITION Now everyone always explains that the Red Cross needs blood but you may ask, why is this relevant to you? II. Need Every 2 seconds someone in the United States needs a blood donation, and thats just in the United States. Now, if you were to only donate one time, you could save three lives. (American Red Cross, 2012) A. The following facts may change your perspective on how important blood donation is: 1. One out of every seven people entering the hospital need blood and 4.5 million Americans need blood transfusions every year (American Blood Centers, 2012). 2. If eligible donors donated three times a year, then there would never be a blood shortage. (American Blood Centers, 2012) a. We currently have at least two blood shortages a year. (American Blood Centers, 2012) b. A blood shortage can lead to many terrible things and many deaths. If someone is eligible for a transplant but the correct blood is not there, then they are forced to pass the transplant to someone else. (American Blood Centers, 2012).

4 DONATE TO THE RED CROSS TRANSITION It is actually incredibly easy to donate. III. Satisfaction Most people that do not donate often say their reasoning is that they do not have enough time. A. The actual donating of blood only takes about 10 minutes, but the whole process from sign in to when you walk out the door takes two hours. I think most people have two hours they can give, three times a year. (American Red Cross, 2012) B. Only about 37% of the US population is eligible to donate, and less than 10% of the population actually donates. (American Blood Centers, 2012) 1. If we go back to looking at the different blood types there is a different wait time between donations for each type. (American Red Cross, 2012). 2. Normal blood can be donated every 56 days, double red cells can only be donated every 112 days which is the longest, plasma donation is every 28 days and the shortest wait time is donation of platelets which can occur every 7 days. (American Red Cross, 2012). a. Platelets are vital to patients usually going through chemotherapy. My mom donates platelets and was matched with a cancer patient, so she donates every two weeks to supply the woman with what she needs to get through treatment. TRANSITION Imagine if someone in your family was the 1 out of 7 that went into the hospital and needed blood, maybe someone in here has been that person and needed a blood transfusion.

5 DONATE TO THE RED CROSS IV. Visualization Out of the 10% of the population that donates annually, only 50% of those people are regular donors which means that 5% of Americans donate blood every year. That is an incredibly small number. (American Red Cross, 2012). A. Researchers are still discovering the health benefits that donating blood has on the donor. Overtime, those who donate have come to show a lower risk of heart disease. (CNN, 2000). TRANSITION- It is a lot easier to find areas to donate then people think. Im sure many of you had blood drives during high school but I wonder how many of you know that we regularly have blood drives here at UConn (UConn, 2012). V. Action We are actually currently participating in a blood drive this week! A. The UConn vs. Syracuse blood drive is happening now and goes until Friday at 5:30 PM (UConn, 2012). 1. This is happening on campus and the goal is to have UConn students donate more blood than Syracuse students. It is an annual event hosted by UConn! It heavily publicizes the fact that one donation helps to save three lives! (UConn, 2012). a. Some of the benefits also being advertise zed are the ability to play with new Apple products while donating and afterwords everyone receives free food! (UConn, 2012). b. So I encourage everyone to consider the information you learned today and try to donate blood and help us beat Syracuse while saving lives! (UConn, 2012).

6 DONATE TO THE RED CROSS References Americas Blood Centers. (2012). 56 Facts About Blood. Retrieved from http://www.americasblood.org/go.cfm?do=page.view&pid=12 American Red Cross (2012). Blood Facts and Statistics. Retrieved from http://www.redcrossblood.org/learn-about-blood/blood-facts-and-statistics American Red Cross. (2012). Eligibility Requirements. Retrieved from http://www.redcrossblood.org/donating-blood/eligibility-requirements American Red Cross. (2012). Give and Get Involved. Retrieved from http://www.redcross.org/portal/site/en/menuitem.d8aaecf214c576bf971e4cfe43181aa0/? vgnextoid=91fe1a53f1c37110VgnVCM1000003481a10aRCRD&vgnextfmt=default American Red Cross. (2011). History of the American Red Cross. Retrieved from http://www.redcrosslv.org/history.html American Red Cross. (2012). Types of Donations. Retrived from http://www.redcrossblood.org/donating-blood/types-donations Charity Navigator. (2010). American Red Cross. Retrieved from http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=3277 CNN Heath. (2000, April 26). Evidence Suggests that Giving Blood Has Health Benefits. Retrieved from http://articles.cnn.com/2000-04-26/health/give.blood.wmd_1_iron-levelsheart-disease-lower-risk?_s=PM:HEALTH UConn. (2012, April). UConn vsSyracuse Blood Drive Challenge. Retrieved from http://uconntact.uconn.edu/organization/americanredcross/calendar/details/141584