January is National Blood Donor Month, and more than 500 Newport News shipbuilders are registered donors with the American Red Cross. That includes Robert Pregler (E84), credited with 270 lifetime donations totaling 34 gallons of blood.
“I started donating in high school when I was 17,” he said. “My dad encouraged me to do it while he was working at a collection center, training to become a volunteer EMT.”
Pregler donated blood through college and continued when he started working at NNS in 1985. He sees donating blood as a tangible way to help others. Because the Red Cross generally keeps blood supplies local, he said it’s a great way to provide a much-needed service to the community.
“I became a blood donor to help people with serious health issues,” he said. “Blood production is something science hasn’t really figured out how to duplicate.”
In 2017, Pregler started donating platelets because a friend needed this type of blood cell to help fight cancer. “He probably never received my platelets, but it made me feel better knowing I did my part providing a supply.”
“Donating blood can truly be life saving for someone,” he said. “Why wouldn’t you want to be part of that?”
Check out the NNS blood drive schedule on MyNNS.
