Hello,

The following is from a communication exchange with John Hodges the Heinlein Society Blood Drive Chair:

"I have been interested in promoting a Pay It Forward blood drive at the Calgary Expo for the last few years. It is very hard to make progress given our stringent blood donor requirements. There is a single agency here in Canada, the Canadian Blood Services, which collects and manages blood donations and they are very formalized in their procedures. I have abandoned any thought of conducting a blood drive at the convention location or even off-site during convention hours, the obligation is too great to expect convention attendees to concede.

However, I was attempting to pursue a different course to build awareness and momentum by acquiring a booth at the convention to promote the Heinlein Society and Canadian Blood Services. I wanted an incentive to draw people to the booth and made contact with ______ in regards to attending. We did not communicate on any details as his commitments precluded his attendance. It was my thought to have _______ available as a celebrity to provide an enticement, perhaps autographing fees in the form of CBS donations.

There remains a possibility of presenting an information booth at the Expo, which could promote the Heinlein Society and Canadian Blood Services, however I am unable to make such a singular commitment. ... so the aid I ask from you, is to inform the Heinlein Society members living in Alberta, of my intent and entreat their help in coalescing the idea into a solid event."

Immediately after sending the message to John, I realised a good way to make such contact with Society members was through the Nexus Forum.

I have a great deal of commitments on my plate for 2013 and making the Blood Drive can not be a high priority for me, so I was moving the blood drive to low priority, but serendipity occurred. The Expo has announced "Casper Van Dien and Dina Meyer of Starship Troopers are heading to the Calgary Expo!" and with such a Heinlein connection, it might be the most opportune time to launch the blood drive.

What I am seeking is for, any Calgary and local area Society members, who wish to help organize the blood drive, to contact me. And any Society members near and far, who are planning to attend the Expo and want to help during the convention hours to contact me.

I have connections with both the Expo Organiziers and Canadian Blood Services from previous endeavours.

Steve Coates
Near Calgary, Alberta, Canada
sslsc@xplornet.com


You can check out the Expo's web site at
http://calgaryexpo.com/

Hello from Victoria. I regret that toddler duties will keep me at home, but best wishes for the expo.

Don't have Peter's excuse, but I won't be there. The effort sounds worthwhile, though: best wishes with it!