The answer to the question above has nothing to do with your physiology, of course, and everything to do with whether you support Cheyenne’s Central High or East High.

For the second year in a row, United Blood Services is hosting its East-Central High Schools Blood Drive Challenge next week at Frontier Mall. To show your school spirit, simply show up at the mall between 2 and 7 p.m. next Wednesday, Thursday or Friday. Or if you can’t make it to the mall during one of those times, go to the main blood center anytime next week to be counted as part of the challenge.

Each donor will receive an “I Bleed Red” or “I Bleed Blue” T-shirt. For more details on the challenge, click on “To give something” at right.

Last year’s East-Central challenge brought in 184 blood donors, and the winning team was East High. This year’s goal is 250 donors, and if the blood center can get that many donors, it won’t matter which school wins the challenge — everyone will be a winner!

Meridian Trust Federal Credit Union employees raised more than $1,650 for charity in 2007 just by going to work in blue jeans.

The credit union’s “Casual for a Cause” program allows staff to dress down one day each month in exchange for a donation of at least $3 monthly, according to a news release.

At the end of every quarter, participating employees’ names are put into a drawing. The winner is allowed to pick which national or local charity gets the donations.

In 2007, Prevent Child Abuse Wyoming got $1,221, and the Boys and Girls Club of Rawlins got $435. The credit union has offices in Cheyenne, Rawlins, Lander and Jackson.

Shannon Murfield, vice president of marketing, said the program is designed in a way that could be easily adopted by other businesses.

(Got a good volunteer story to share? Click on the link below this blog entry called and post your comment!)

Would you like to help youth in our community who are most in need of guidance and preparation for their future?

If you answered yes, the Boys and Girls Club of Cheyenne needs your volunteer time!

I chatted with Gordon Eldredge this morning about the club, which is located less than a block from the WTE offices at 1700 Snyder Ave. Eldredge has a long history with Boys and Girls Clubs across the country, and is serving in his current position because he was asked to come out of retirement to do so.

I asked Eldredge to describe the club’s mission, and he said while some people see it as a child-care facility that gives their children something to do after school until they get off work, it’s actually a youth development center that features activities and skills-building.

“We’re in the business of impacting kids and helping them to be ready to cope with the world they’re going to be in,” Eldredge told me.

The club on Snyder is open from 3:30-7 p.m. Monday through Friday. On weekdays during the school year when school is out of session, it is open from 7:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Also, the program offers before- and after-school programs at Deming and Hebard elementary schools on school days.

Eldredge said he would love to have volunteers come spend as little as two hours a week talking with youth about their hobbies and interests, helping with homework, reading to kids, teaching cooking skills, preparing snacks, etc.

In addition, he said they are trying to get two new program rooms ready for use. The rooms need to be painted and decorated, new computers need to be set up, counters need to be build to hold the computers and some minor electrical work needs to be done. If you can help with any of these skills, call Eldredge at 778-6674.

Of course, even though it is partially funded by United Way of Laramie County, the Boys and Girls Club of Cheyenne can use donations to help fund its programs, as well as six full-time and six part-time staffers. For more information, click on “To give your money” at right.

Many thanks to Eldredge for coming out of retirement to serve this group of youngsters in our community who will be better citizens because of the Boys and Girls Club and its programs!

(Got a good volunteer story to share? Click on the link below this blog entry and post your comment!)

Want to support the local COMEA House homeless shelter, but you don’t have enough money to donate right now?

A new Internet search engine will donate money each time you use it, and a new online shopping mall donates up to 37 percent of each purchase to charity.

Teresa Garrido, resource development coordinator for COMEA House and Resource Center, said GoodSearch.com is a new Yahoo-powered search engine that gives half of its advertising revenue — about a penny per search — to the charities its users designate. COMEA is on that list, and users can designate it to receive funds.

You use it just like you would any search engine, but you’re helping those in need at the same time!

In addition, GoodShop.com has teamed up with hundreds of stores, and every time you place an order through the Internet, you’ll be donating as well.

For more information about these new opportunities to give, call Garrido at 632-3174.

Sharon Robert-Meyer from United Blood Services sent me an e-mail this morning to let me know the first Don Maddison Memorial Blood Drive was a “nice success for its first year,” with 40 people attempting to donate blood in his name.

The drive was held Jan. 5 in honor of Don Maddison, who daughter Terry Dimon said relied on blood transfusions to give him a normal life during his final year. Following his death last October, the family decided to honor his memory by sponsoring a blood drive through United Blood Services. (To read the full story behind the drive, go to http://www.wyomingnews.com/articles/2007/12/29/local_news_updates/20local_12-29-07.txt.)

The event will continue next year, and, in fact, a date has already been set. But who it honors will expand. Roberts-Meyer said the Don and Candy Maddison Celebration of Life Blood Drive is scheduled for Jan. 10, 2009.

“The family and close friends believe this is a very appropriate name, since both Don and his wife, Candy, were the recipients of blood products in the last months of their lives,” Roberts-Meyer said.

Congratulations to Dimon and the rest of the Maddison family for supporting United Blood Services in this way!

The event is timed to happen during National Blood Donor Month, which ends Jan. 31. United Blood Services will enter all January donors, whether they are long-time or first-time donors, in a drawing for a $500 gift card. So for the next 10 days, you could save a life and possibly be rewarded financially as well! For more information on donating blood, click on “To give something” at right.

Got any good ideas for fundraising?

If so, the folks over at Community Care Concepts really want to hear from you. Although they have raised almost $8,000 so far, they have a long way to go to get to the estimated $200,000 needed to renovate the Cranmore family’s home.

That’s why Amy Clark-Walters and the rest of the new non-profit organization’s volunteers want people who have good ideas for raising money to contact them.

For those who missed our story about the effort, go to http://www.wyomingnews.com/articles/2007/12/23/local_news_updates/20local_12-23-07.txt.

As I said in an earlier blog entry, the Cranmore family — Todd, Shannon, Colton (11), Caleb (8) and Chase (7) — lives in Laramie County in a house that is just outside of Cheyenne city limits. It has an inadequate well, so a petition has been filed with the city to have the property annexed so it can connect to city water and sewer services. At the same time, Todd has been diagnosed with secondary progressive multiple sclerosis, is on full disability and currently is only able to walk short distances with the help of a cane. At some point, he will be full-time in a mobility scooter or wheelchair, but their house is not handicapped accessible. Shannon has become the provider for the family, along with keeping up with school and sports activities that the three boys are involved in.

Of course, the group still needs money donations. Tim Joannides, who got the family a minivan recently, is serving as honorary capital campaign chairman and is out in the community soliciting donations from businesses.

But businesses, which are asked to help a lot of different community efforts, can only do so much. This project cries out for community residents to help a neighbor in need, just as you would hope the community would do for you if you were in the Cranmores’ shoes.

For more information, click on “To give your time” and “To give your money” at right.

We have written several stories about the Cheyenne Community Clinic and its valuable service to low-income, uninsured residents in the community through the years. So I was thrilled to see the e-mail this week from executive director Rhonda Tyre Priest asking if they could connect with the “Everyone gives, Everyone gains” project.

For those not familiar with the clinic, it began in 2000 as a result of the efforts of members of various public and private agencies. It now has its own board of directors and is staffed almost entirely by compassionate volunteers.

A brochure generously created by Laramie County Community College staff tells the story of Teddy Bade, who volunteers at the front desk on Tuesdays. She also is a patient. According to the brochure, “Her husband worked as a ranch hand for 26 years, but the couple and their four children had no health insurance. Bade had no regular doctor either. So when she got pneumonia, she waited until it got unbearable and ended up in the emergency room. There, the doctors discovered she had diabetes. They prescribed insulin, but she couldn’t keep up the treatment.

“‘I couldn’t afford the medicines I needed on a ranch hand’s wages,’ she says. Bade, now 63, went off her diabetes drugs for five years. Finally, a friend told her about the Cheyenne Community Clinic, where she was able to get the drugs she needed. She has been a patient, volunteer and, finally, a board member in the half-decade since.”

The clinic is open from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Thursday and 3-9 p.m. Tuesday at 3100 Henderson Drive, Suite 3. It provides free primary care, including medications from its on-site pharmacy.

Priest told me this afternoon that the clinic couldn’t continue without donations from local residents and volunteers to staff the clinic. To do one or both, click on “To give your money” and “To give your time” on the right side of this blog entry.

COMEA House has added two new items to its list of needed items under “To give something” at right. Teresa Garrido, resource development coordinator, said by e-mail today that they need a new printer and a floor buffer.

Also, Sally Meeker with Special Friends corrected the date on the next information meeting for those interested in being a Special Friends mentor. The meeting takes place at 6 p.m. Monday, Jan. 28.

More information will be coming in the next few days on this blog about Special Friends and the fact that many youth in the Cheyenne area need a positive role model in their life. You could be the one to meet that need!

Think nickels are worthless? Discard pennies along with the pocket lint at the end of the day? Try saving them for a favorite charity instead.

I was reminded of the value of pocket change Sunday night as I sat and counted four very small cardboard boxes worth of change that members of my adult Sunday School class had saved during the Advent season. A fellow class member and I guessed the change would total about $40 when I poured it into a plastic baggie.

The final tally: Almost $80.

Combined with four dollar bills and four checks, we’re at $155 so far for the Society of St. Andrew, which describes itself as: “A Christian ministry dedicated to gleaning America’s fields and feeding America’s hungry, we provide healthy, nutritious produce to society’s most vulnerable through innovative, cost-effective programs.”

So the next time you think about tossing those pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters aside, put them in a jar instead and save them for your favorite charity. (For some groups looking to put those coins to good use, click on “To give your money” at right.)

Many thanks to my friend Leo Scherr for agreeing to offer his skills as a math tutor to get the ball rolling on the “To offer your skills” part of the WTE’s “Everyone gives, Everyone gains” project. (You can see his listing under that link at right.)

As I told Leo when I explained this part of the project to him, the person offering the skill gets to set their own parameters, such as what hours or time frame they are willing to work, where they are willing to travel (if at all) and how much work they take on.

As all volunteers have to learn at one point, it’s OK to say no.

Just because you list that you have skills to offer doesn’t mean you have to say yes to everyone who calls asking you to apply that skill to their particular need. You get to volunteer as much or as little as you want.

Now that Leo has the ball rolling, it’s your turn. Send me an e-mail at everyonegives@wyomingnews.com and let me know what skill you want to offer the community. This project is only as successful as the community makes it. I look forward to hearing from you!