Dear Editor,
It sometimes feels like no one wants to agree on anything these days — from national politics to the most local of issues. So, I’m writing to offer your readers an antidote to some of the negativity, divisiveness, anger, and suspicion that may seem so pervasive: The opportunity to participate in the 2021 Gift-of-Life Marathon.
With a national blood shortage reaching crisis levels, the GOLM presents the prospect of putting aside every conceivable difference for the common good, an opportunity to save lives and build community at the same time.
Speaking recently with Stefanie Schaffer, who has received more blood than anyone I know, I was struck by something she said. As readers probably know, a boat explosion left her severely injured, unable to walk and with a serious brain injury and kidney failure in 2018. Yet she’s found ways to move past the challenges, develop new meaning in her life, and help others.
Stefanie has become an ambassador for the GOLM, and said she gets joy from just being at the event. Joy — from being among people helping other people they’ll never know — people just like her.
We could all use a little more joy, these days. Please join Stef, co-organizer Terry Jaye, dozens of volunteers, hundreds of your friends and neighbors, and me at the 2021 GOLM. You just might help save a life like Stefanie’s.
Appointments are available at redcrossblood.org or 800-RED-CROSS.
Steve Costello Rutland Town Costello is Green Mountain Power vice president and co-organizer of the GOLM.
