If you’ve been around Tough Guy Book Club for a while, you’ll know we do monthly challenges. These challenges range from something a little strange like our unusual reading challenge, health related challenges like get your blood pressure checked, and club growth challenges like bringing a new goon to chapter. The August 2022 challenge is probably one of our most important yet: donate blood.

This challenge came about because, until recently, people who lived in the UK between 1980 and 1996 were unable to donate blood due to Mad Cow disease concerns. This restriction actually affected a huge amount of Goons so we didn’t want to make it a challenge until now. We’re not sure of the science behind why the restriction was lifted, but hell, donating blood is a good thing so let’s go get this done.

So to take part in the challenge, Goons join the brand new TGBC lifeblood team, book in to donate, then snap a picture when they’re actually donating. This picture goes into Pool Hall with the hashtag #newbloods.

We’re not going to apologise for putting some stats and facts in this article because donating blood is, well, bloody important. Hopefully we can convince some more people to donate with some simple information. According to the good folk who take our blood, red blood cells last 42 days after they’re donated and Australia needs 1.7 million donations a year to those in need. It’s not like we can keep a reserve of blood. We need people constantly donating to save lives.

Donating blood is also pretty easy. All you need to do is drink a lot of water the day before (and the day of) then sit in a chair for a little while until about half a litre of your blood is drained out. Afterward they give you some juice to drink and even a sausage roll if you want. It’s not five star dining but gets your energy back up after losing about 8% of your blood volume. Then you leave knowing you’ve done your good deed for the day; you’ve probably just saved three lives.

So far this month we’ve seen plenty of Goons donating for the first time, which is awesome. We’ve also seen plenty of Goons who regularly donate blood talking a whole lot more about it, which is also awesome. There’s also a few Goons who are sharing the various reasons they can’t donate blood. These Goons want to help but can’t do so directly, so they’re helping in their own way. Maybe they’re driving another Goon to the blood bank, maybe they’re organising things, or maybe they’re just sharing their story so we all better understand why it’s so important that those who can donate do donate. All in all, this challenge is really bringing the club together.

If you want to donate blood, check out Lifeblood to book online.