Comic-Con\u2019s Robert A. Heinlein Blood Drive, San Diego Blood Bank\u2019s largest and longest-running blood drive, was back for our 48th year in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our five-day blood drive collected 3,008 pints of blood at the convention. On top of that amazing number, the extended Comic-Con Mania drive that ran through August added 12,623 more, for a total of 15,631 pints! San Diego Blood Bank tells us this year\u2019s donations will touch the lives of 46,800 patients! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a thank you to those who gave their time and blood to save the lives of others, donors received a Deadpool\/Wolverine T-shirt from Marvel Studios. Donors in the 5-day drive also received their choice of other goodies, and many were lucky enough to win one of the hundreds of prizes donated to the blood drive by our generous exhibitors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The growth of our blood drive over the years has been phenomenal. Our blood drive began at San Diego Comic-Con back in 1977, at the El Cortez Hotel. That first year, 148 pints of blood were collected, and as the convention has grown, so has our blood drive.
In our long history, a total of 93,204 pints of blood have been donated by Comic-Con attendees, exhibitors, professionals, volunteers, and staff! San Diego Blood Bank estimates that your donations have impacted more than 232,000 lives over our 48 years!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Please join Comic-Con and San Diego Blood Bank for our 49th Robert A. Heinlein Blood Drive in 2025. Your donations are always needed and will save countless lives.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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DID YOU KNOW YOU CAN DONATE ANYTIME BEFORE THE CONVENTION?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Attendees, volunteers, and staff! Donate before the convention and ask for a certificate of donation<\/strong>. Tell them your donation is for Comic-Con, and give them our group code: CCON<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n During the convention, take your certificate on-site to Comic-Con\u2019s Robert A. Heinlein Blood Drive, pick up some giveaways, and see if you won a special prize! Sorry, only one certificate per person will be accepted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n SAN DIEGO County<\/p>\n\n\n\n SAN DIEGO BLOOD BANK GATEWAY DONOR CENTER CARMEL VALLEY DONOR CENTER COASTAL DONOR CENTER<\/strong> EAST COUNTY DONOR CENTER<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n LIBERTY STATION DONATION LOCATION<\/strong> NORTH COUNTY DONOR CENTER SABRE SPRINGS DONOR CENTER<\/strong> IRVINE BUSINESS DISTRICT DONATION LOCATION For science fiction fans, few names were as stellar as Robert A. Heinlein. From Starship Troopers<\/em> to Stranger in a Strange <\/em>For science fiction fans, few names were as stellar as Robert A. Heinlein. From Starship Troopers<\/em> to Stranger in a Strange Land<\/em>, Heinlein was the dean of SF writers. Unfortunately, he rarely attended conventions, so his readers had few opportunities to meet the master in person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then in the early 1970s, Heinlein had a life-threatening illness and needed many pints of a rare blood type. He felt he owed his life to the donors, so when asked to be a guest at the 1976 Worldcon in his hometown of Kansas City, he agreed with one specific stipulation: that he would only sign autographs for people who donated blood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thus, longtime Comic-Con committee member Jackie Estrada approached the author with an offer to hold a blood drive in San Diego if he would consent to be a guest. He agreed, and in 1977 Heinlein came to Comic-Con. He and his wife, Ginny, had a great time and Heinlein even drew a picture for the Sunday morning Art Auction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “David Scroggy [who went on to be a VP at Dark Horse Comics before he retired] was the first blood drive coordinator,” recalls Estrada. “We also had Theodore Sturgeon there signing his book, Some of Your Blood<\/em>, which he gave to all of the blood donors. We also had entertainment for the people while they were [donating blood]. I remember that Leslie Cabarga played the piano, and C. C. Beck played the guitar. It was a very fun event and Robert was delighted. We’ve had the blood drive every year since.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Robert Anson Heinlein<\/strong> (July 7, 1907 – May 8, 1988) was one of the most popular and respected science fiction authors of the 20th Century. By setting a high standard for science and engineering plausibility, he helped raise the genre’s standards of literary quality. He was the first writer to break into mainstream magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post in the late 1940s with unvarnished science fiction. He was also among the first authors of bestselling novel-length science fiction in the modern mass-market era.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Four of Heinlein’s novels (Double Star<\/em>, Starship Troopers<\/em>, Stranger in a Strange Land<\/em>, and The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress<\/em>) won Hugo Awards in the years they were published. In 2001, another novel (Farmer in the Sky<\/em>) and a novella (The Man Who Sold the Moon<\/em>) received “Retro Hugos; for the year 1951, and the movie Destination Moon<\/em>, which was based on a Heinlein story, received the “Retro Hugo” for Best Dramatic Presentation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He was the first writer to be named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America for lifetime achievement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Heinlein was known as the “Dean of Science Fiction Writers,” but he was much more. He was a philanthropist who helped many charitable causes and individuals. When asked how he could be repaid for his help, he would reply, “You can’t pay me back, you have to pay it forward.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n One cause that was of great importance to him was blood donation. Having a rare blood type himself (AB+), he was a frequent donor and a supporter of the National Rare Blood Club, which was an integral part of his novel I Will Fear No Evil<\/em>. In 1976, at the 34th World Science Fiction Convention in Kansas City, he helped organize the first of many science fiction convention blood drives. In 1977, he did the same at San Diego Comic-Con.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2025 will mark the 49th year of the Robert A. Heinlein Blood Drive as an integral part of Comic-Con, and the 17th year of the WonderCon Robert A. Heinlein Memorial Blood Drive.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n In 1950 the San Diego Blood Bank was established with the support of the San Diego County Medical Society. The foresight and dedication of founding fathers Dr. Thomas O’Connell and Dr. Frederick G. Hollander led us to the San Diego Blood Bank of today, an organization known for excellence in its service to our community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From 1950 to 1953, annual donations averaged 27,000 pints in San Diego County. In the 1960s, San Diego Blood Bank’s growth continued and so did donations, with nearly 40,000 pints given annually by 1969. In the late 1960s, we were also at the forefront of medical technology when we were one of the first blood banks in California to institute hepatitis screening on all donated blood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The 1970s ushered in an era of tremendous development. Our landmark Hillcrest headquarters opened in 1972 and our first satellite location, the North County Donor Center, opened in Escondido in 1978.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1981 we were among the first blood banks in the nation to formalize a designated donor program, which allows patients to select their donors. Our autologous donor program also was put into place more than 30 years ago for patients who wish to pre-deposit their blood for planned surgery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By 1986, donations reached 86,000 pints annually and have exceeded 100,000 for many years now. San Diego Blood Bank is licensed by the State of California Department of Health Services and by the Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It is a fully accredited member of the Association for the Advancement of Blood & Biotherapies (AABB) and a member of the California Blood Bank Society (CBBS), America\u2019s Blood Centers (ABC), Blood Centers of America (BCA), the Blood Centers of California (BCC) and is the local Cord Blood Registry for the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Comic-Con Robert A. Heinlein Blood Drive 2024 Additional information will be added, and some information may change as the convention approaches, so please check back often. Comic-Con\u2019s Robert A. Heinlein Blood Drive, San Diego Blood Bank\u2019s largest and longest-running blood drive, was back for our 48th year in 2024. Our five-day blood drive collected 3,008 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"parent":75,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-532","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\n\n\n\nSan Diego Blood Bank Donor Center locations:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/strong>3636 Gateway Center Avenue, Suite 100
San Diego, CA 92102
(619) 400-8251
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/strong>3880 Valley Center Drive, Suite 210
San Diego, CA 92130
Located behind Marketplace Grill
<\/em>(619) 400-8251
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1910 Via Centre
Vista, CA 92081
(619) 400-8251
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
776 Arnele Avenue
El Cajon, CA 92020
(619) 400-8251
CHULA VISTA DONOR CENTER AT TERRA NOVA PLAZA
<\/strong>386 East H St. Suite 210
Chula Vista, CA 91910
Terra Nova Plaza next to D\u2019Lish restaurant<\/em>
(619) 400-8251<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
2850 Womble Rd. Building 30
Suite 101B
San Diego, CA 92106
Located across from the fountain, between Yoga Six and Ikiru Sushi
<\/em>(619) 400-8251
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/strong>358 West El Norte Parkway, Suite J
Escondido, CA 92026
Located near IHOP and Dollar Tree
<\/em>(619) 400-8251
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
12640 Sabre Springs Parkway, Suite 109
San Diego, CA 92128
(619) 400-8251
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Orange County<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/strong>SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA BLOOD BANK<\/strong>
7 Corporate Park
Suite 130
Irvine, CA 92606
Located by Coffee Dose
<\/em>(844) 380-5220<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nPLEASE FIND THE TIME TO SAVE A LIFE! DONATE!<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nA Brief History of Comic-Con\u2019s Robert A. Heinlein Blood Drive<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nA Brief History of Robert A. Heinlein<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
![\"Robert](\"https:\/\/comic-con-staging-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/09\/photo_heinlein_0.png\")
\n\n\n\nA Brief History of San Diego Blood Bank<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
One thing that has not<\/em> changed since the very beginning is the remarkable commitment and selfless spirit of our most vital resource\u2014blood donors. Our entire donor population is solely volunteer and has been since 1974. Some of today\u2019s donors are as young as 17 and nearly half are women. <\/p>\n\n\n\n