A different sort of corporate giving: giving back to the community through blood donations.

• Author: Kelly, Lindsay
• Position: NEWS

About four years ago, Jersey, an employee at Vale's Coleman Mine in Sudbury, was in a serious motorcycle accident that led to an amputation of one of his limbs. Immediately, his workmates snapped into action, looking to help in any way they could, eventually settling on a blood drive.

"Crews are like a baseball team or a tight-knit family," said Franco Cazzola, who was the manager at Coleman at the time and now manages the Copper Cliff smelter. "Some of them stay together for 10, 15, or 20 years because they like working with each other, and Jersey's crew was one of those crews."

Working with Canadian Blood Services (CBS), the crew arranged for employees to be shuttled between the mine in Levack and the CBS blood donation centre in Sudbury during the mine's Business Days--one day every month crews spend on surface as an education day.

"It got such a big uptake after the first couple of sessions that the employees requested to keep it going," Cazzola said. "It just became a part of the culture that every Business Day there would be an opportunity to donate blood."

That commitment has endured, and today, every month, roughly 80 mine workers spend 90 minutes of their Business Day giving 'the gift of life.'

Coleman's employees have even challenged other plants to donate, and many employees were quick to get on board, including Dan Langlois, a supervisor at Stobie Mine who knows from personal experience the importance of giving blood.

He first donated when his grandfather was diagnosed with leukemia and needed blood transfusions to extend his life. Langlois and his grandfather shared a blood type, and he gladly donated to help buy him more time with his grandfather.

"Time is the most precious resource that we have," Langlois said. "We're in the mining world, and we mine precious metals, but you can't replace time. It's a non-renewable resource."

Joanne Drake, territory manager for CBS, said corporate donations are a key component to meeting the local blood collection targets set out by CBS every month. The practice is doubly beneficial, as businesses and organizations can give back to the communities in which they operate, while the local stock of blood is kept in good supply.

"A lot of organizations are looking for teambuilding exercises that their staff can do," Drake said. "What better way than to come into the clinic as a group? You save lives and it's a really good feeling."

The CBS clinic in Sudbury is a hub for blood collection across...