85-year-old donates his 10th gallon of blood

CHUBBUCK — Nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary when Cleel Bennett walked into the Red Cross Blood Donation Center, as he’d been doing for decades.

But this time, Bennett was donating his 10th gallon of blood from over his 85-year lifetime. Blood donors only make up about 3% of the population, and donating the amount of blood Bennett has is a feat that’s not commonly achieved.

A donor typically gives 1 pint at a time.

“I just felt like it was one of the little things I could do that would help other people,” Bennett said.

Matt Ochsner, communications director for the Red Cross of Montana, Idaho and East Oregon, said donated blood goes toward accident victims, cancer patients, expecting mothers and “just countless people depend on those blood products every single day.”

“We really appreciate those who raise their hand and make that commitment to saving lives,” Ochsner said.

Bennett has been donating his blood to the American Red Cross for 65 years, and there was no one moment when he decided that he would try to donate as much blood as he could in his life.

“It was kind of gradual. It was one of those things if I had time and there was a blood drive… then I would try to come,” Bennett said.

The first time Bennett donated was in the late 1950s at a blood drive at the Veterans Memorial Building. Bennett worked for the Idaho Transportation Department, and employees were allowed to go there and donate during work.

“It was kind of one of those things where everybody on the crews were doing it, so we just did,” Bennett said.

But he became inspired to donate more when his daughter, Laurinda Bennett, received donated blood.

Laurinda, then 23, was suffering from scoliosis, and she had to receive a Harrington rod in her back in an eight-hour surgery at the University of Utah hospital. She received around five pints of blood in the operation.

Seeing what it had done for Laurinda, Bennett went and donated blood at that hospital.

“It was one of those things that encouraged me seeing the need for it,” Bennett said.

This was the first time that Laurinda became aware that Bennett was donating blood.

“He amazes me,” said Laurinda. “It has helped me realizse how you can quitely help others and there’s no fanfare. You just do it because that’s what you want to do.

After her surgery, Laurinda still had problems with needles and blood and was frightened to donate, but over the years she watched her dad donate and saw how easy he made it look. After several years, Laurinda joined her father in donating blood.

“It’s a way to pay it forward because that fact is we never know when we might be in an accident or have some disaster hit that causes us to be in need of blood,” Laurinda said.

Ochsner said a blood donation appointment takes less than an hour and can save more than one life.

People who are looking for a donation center or blood drive near them can go to the Red Cross website and type in their zip code.

Bennett hopes that more people would be inspired to donate blood to the American Red Cross, because they need every last pint they can get.

“If you haven’t donated, try it. You get a good feeling that you’ve been doing what’s good for your fellow man,” Bennett said.