Donate blood and get an ice cream

A friend’s medical crisis has inspired the owners of Parachute Ice Cream in Victoria to offer free cones to anyone who donates blood during the month of January.

The company is partnering with Canadian Blood Services on the promotion in honour of Maya Miguel, a close friend of Parachute’s co-owner Kevin Fung.

Miguel suffered a hemorrhage during childbirth and required a transfusion, said Verna Chow, territory manager for Canadian Blood Services.

“Essentially, they told her that to restore her blood volume that she would need at least three months if she had to do it naturally,” Chow said. “So she would have been in hospital.”

Miguel recovered, but the experience made her realize the critical role blood donations played in allowing her to return home to care for her baby.

“So, as a result, they decided that they were going to support Canadian Blood Services by encouraging new donors to come out and donate,” Chow said.

The agency says it requires more than 100,000 new donors across the country this year to keep up with demand.

Chow said Victoria’s donors contribute more frequently than anywhere else in the province.

“But the problem is that we don’t have a large number of new donors,” she said. “And we lose people that aren’t able to donate anymore for a lot of different reasons.

“So it’s important that we get new donors every year.”

The promotion will run from Jan. 2 to 31. Prospective donors can visit Parachute’s store at 1052626 Bridge St. to pick up a voucher and get it stamped after giving blood at a Canadian Blood Services donor centre.

Stamped vouchers can be redeemed at Parachute for a free cone from Jan. 2 to Feb. 15.

“Parachute is being very kind and they’re offering one scoop, but the scoop can be two different flavours,” Chow said. “So as soon as you get that voucher stamped, you could go straight to Parachute and get your ice cream.

“The other neat thing is that they’re creating a signature flavour for us. They’re creating a Canadian Blood Services’ bloodorange flavour for this promotion specifically.”

People interested in giving blood can download the GiveBlood app, call 1-888-2-DONATE (1-888-236-6283) or book an appointment at blood.ca.

Walk-in appointments are also accepted.