.. enjoyed reading this btw

Donating blood has to be the easiest thing for people to do, just find a local chapter of the American Red Cross (http://www.redcross.org/).

You can also donate platelets (a blood constituent which aids in clotting). Platelets are primarily needed for cancer patients whose own platelets have been destroyed by their cancer therapy. The collection process (apheresis) separates out the platelets from the rest of your blood, which is returned to you. Because of that, you can donate platelets every two weeks, more often than whole blood (which is every two months). Theoretically, you can donate much more often because your platelets are replaced by your body within 48 hours, but they like to give you a couple of weeks for your veins to heal and prevent vein scarring. It does take a bit more time per session (1.5 – 2 hours), but it is much more efficient to donate platelets than whole blood: One unit of platelets is equivalent to 6 to 10 units of whole blood. Some Red Cross chapters also do apheresis in addition to whole blood donation; you should contact the one in your area to find out. I go in to catch up on my movie watching; each apheresis chair at my Red Cross has a DVD player and they get new DVDs in every few weeks.

And lastly, get yourself on the registry for the National Marrow Donor Program (http://www.marrow.org), especially if you are a minority (minorities are vastly under-represented on the registry). For many leukemia and lymphoma patients, a bone marrow transplant is their only hope for survival.