Anime Human Blood Drive 2010

 METROCON HOSTS THE FIRST ANNUAL ANIME HUMAN BLOOD DRIVE

After seven exciting years of bringing METROCON to the Tampa Bay Area, we thought it was time METROCON give a little more back to the community. After some creative input from one of our staff members, the idea to host a blood drive was born! This will give patrons of METROCON the opportunity to not only give back themselves, but also partake in the joy of saving lives. On average, giving blood takes less than an hour, and a single donation can provide for up to 3 different transfusions, for 3 different people, and save 3 different lives.

Florida Blood Services will be joining us at Tampa Convention Center the Saturday of METROCON, July 24, 2010, from 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM. In return for helping FBS save lives, you will receive a snack, a drink, a free t-shirt, and a raffle ticket that enters you into an exclusive drawing for one of our best prizes (to be announced) of the weekend! If you decide to donate blood, you will also receive one volunteer hour to help contribute to your volunteer reimbursement for the weekend. It doesn’t take quite an hour for the donation, and we feel that METROCON should help reward anybody that gives back to the community and save lives.

The people from FBS have told us that they can only accept a certain number of donations per hour, so we have worked with them to get an online sign-up system for our event through their website. Below are some screen-captures to help you through the process.

NOTICE: You must be at least 18 years of age to donate blood.

1. Go to http://www.fbsdonor.org and click on “Make an Appointment Now”		2. Enter all of the appropriate information, and click “Submit”		3. Enter in “FM026” as your Sponsor Code in the box at the top, and then click “Search”.
4. Click “METROCON Exhibit” to be transported to the scheduling page.		5. Click “Schedule” next to the time slot you would like to sign-up and donate during.

If you want to receive the volunteer hour, make sure that after you sign up on the FBS Donor Website you create or log into your MyConsOnline.com account and add the hour to your list of scheduled volunteer hours under "Anime Human Blood Drive." Make sure that you select the corrisponding hour to the time slot you selected on the FBS site (For example: If you are scheduled to donate at 4:45pm, You would sign up in the volunteer system in the 4:00pm block). The FBS staff member who handles your donation at the convention will sign-off on your volunteer form and give you your raffle ticket. (NOTE: Please do not sign up for the volunteer hour without first setting your appointment with FBS.)

WARNING: Please make sure that you have had an appropriate amount to eat and drink before and after your donation. One soda and a stick of Pocky do not qualify as an appropriate amount of food to survive a day at the con, let alone stay up all night at the Rave without passing out.

We at METROCON know the anime community is up to the challenge that we can completely take Florida Blood Services by surprise with the number of eager fans we have ready and willing to give a little time and save lives. Once again, it’s all up to the fans, and this time peoples’ lives depend on you! Let’s come together and make this happen!