Chesterfield retiree organizes church blood drive for 20 years, donates for a lifetime

Source: St.迷你倉出租 Louis Post-DispatchSept. 07--CHESTERFIELD --If you say "blood drive" to Dean Hammann, he'll try to sign you up to donate.And people find it's difficult to say no once they learn that Hammann, 84, has been donating since he was in his 20s."That's just his personality," Amy Venturella, 18, said of her grandfather's recruiting.Hammann has been signing people up, one by one, for blood drives for the past 20 years. The combination of all the blood drives he's organized has raised more than 2,000 units of blood for the Greater St. Louis Region American Red Cross. He keeps a book with information about past donors and contacts them individually to remind them about future drives.Hammann's events are full of family. At a recent drive, three of his granddaughters were present, including Venturella, chatting and sharing photos with his daughter, son, daughter-in-law and a few family friends.Venturella has been volunteering at the blood drives for three years and said it was partly her grandfather's work that motivated her to continue doing community service."I think he definitely is one of those unsung heroes," she said.Venturella said people were amazed when they found out how long her grandfather had been donating his blood and his time.Hammann, who donates multiple times a year at the blood drives he organizes at his church, says he started giving blood for an uncle who had cancer."At that time you could give and supposedly the blood went right to the patient," Hammann said.He received a Lifesaver Award from the Red Cross in May to recognize his long-standing work with blood donation. Awards were given to 34 people in different categories, including blood services, law enforcement, disaster relief and good Samaritan."I was very proud, honored to receive that award, and surprised," Hammann said.Patti Bernard, a blood donor recruitment representative with the Red Cross, nominated Hammann for the award after working with him on several blood drives. She said there weren't many people who would work as long as Hammann."He's just the epitome of a gentleman," Bernard said.So much of a gentleman, in fact, that his fam迷你倉ly said he was too humble to share the news about his award. They gathered and surprised him with a cake at last November's blood drive to announce that his name had been put in for the recognition."I think they just kind of take it for granted," said Hammann's wife, Betty. "A lot of people were pleasantly surprised when he was recognized."The Hammanns joined Bonhomme Presbyterian Church in 1993, after Dean Hammann retired from F.W. Woolworth Company and relocated to Chesterfield. He was asked to organize a blood drive shortly after joining the church and never stopped. Senior Pastor Tom Pfizenmeier, who has known Dean Hammann for 17 years, said he didn't know about the award."I think he's just one of those seasoned leaders that people love and respect," Pfizenmeier said.Hammann served as a church elder and is active in the church's Bible school and men's ministry, Pfizenmeier said. Hammann added the blood drives to his other responsibilities, though lately he hasn't been doing it alone.In 2009, Jordan Lawrence, a record management company, moved to the office building across the street from Bonhomme. Neil Rose coordinated the company blood drive before the move, so one day he walked to the front desk at the church to ask if they wanted to team up.Since then, Rose, 36, has helped Hammann coordinate the church blood drives and recruited donors from his office."There's a couple of generations in between, so it's fun to be able to hang out and come together for a good cause," Rose said.A standard blood drive will bring 35 to 40 donors, Hammann said, but he wants to get the count up to 100. Betty Hammann said they used to see that many donors in the '90s but the numbers just keep going down."That's just Dean," Bernard said. "I think that says to you he's not planning on quitting anytime soon."The next blood drive at Bonhomme will be Nov. 29. For the last two years the church has been chosen for the city-wide blood drive hosted by 99.1 Joy FM on the day after Thanksgiving.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Visit the St. Louis Post-Dispatch at .stltoday.com Distributed by MCT Information Services儲存倉