By Jill Feldon LaNouette


When Naomi Stamper was about to turn 70 years young, her friends asked her what she wanted to do to celebrate. “I didn’t want to just go out to lunch with my lady friends,” she said. “I wanted to do something important.”

So, she asked her friends to give blood, with the goal of getting 70 donations. She arranged for her synagogue to do a 70th birthday blood drive for her friends, and the word spread to friends and family across the country. “We got over 70 donations at that time, and the donations kept on growing,” Naomi, who is now 83, said. “People kept going and donating blood for years, like my friend Linda.”

Indeed, Linda Wulf was inspired by Naomi’s request for blood donations. “I was in my mid 50s at the time and hadn’t given blood in years. But to please her, I made an appointment,” Linda said. “I was surprised to be told that I was a good candidate to donate platelets.  Beginning to feel my age at that time, I was flattered that anything in my body was unusually good!”

Linda said there is a commandment in the Jewish tradition about healing the world by looking for ways to do good deeds, or mitzvot. Donating blood or platelets is a very simple and clear way to do a good deed and help other people. “It can be a lifelong giving action with little effort,” she said. “I feel like if I rush in [to donate], I could save a child.”

Plus, she said, another great part of donating platelets is being able to simply lay down and watch movies for about two hours while her platelets and plasma are being drawn. “When I started donating, I used to flip through the DVDs and some VHS tapes, which were all so good. Now there’s Netflix! The time goes by very quickly.” 

While Linda was inspired to donate by Naomi, Naomi was inspired by her father. He was denied being able to enlist in the military in World War II because “they weren’t taking men his age if they had just had a child,” she said. So, her father donated blood as his way of supporting the country and the war effort. 

“Giving blood was something that I grew up with,” she said. Years later, a fellow college student had an illegal, botched abortion and needed blood. “I donated then and I donate regularly now.”

While she loves the cookies she gets to munch on after donating blood, Naomi said she also feels like she’s done something simple that takes no more than an hour and leaves her feeling “like I am contributing to the goodness of the world.” Today, several of her children donate blood and she is hoping her grandchildren will also.

Naomi praised the American Red Cross for its work in encouraging people of all blood types to give blood, platelets, or plasma. We thank Naomi and Linda for their work in inspiring others to do so.

To make an appointment to donate, use the Red Cross Blood Donor App, visit RedCrossBlood.org or call 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767).