Electric Boat employees donate nearly 32,000 pints of blood since 1979

Electric Boat employees donate nearly 32,000 pints of blood since 1979

Several multi-gallon blood donors were recognized recently at an Electric Boat Company blood drive that not only celebrated individual achievements, but the company’s ongoing support since the Rhode Island Blood Center was founded in 1979.

Electric Boat was among the original companies to sponsor a blood drive, and has consistently sponsored drives over the last 30 years, sometimes as many as four drives a year. The company, which operates around the clock, holds drives that reach every shift.

Bob Pinkham donated on the day shift for the first time in the nearly 30 years he’s worked at Electric Boat. Head of the x-ray department, Pinkham worked the night shift for 29 years.

On this day, Pinkham, 54, was recognized for donating some 14 gallons. He was among several multi-gallon Electric Boat employees, who were honored.

“It’s one way I can do something,” said Pinkham, who follows the example set by his father, who was also a blood donor.

“I do it because I’m able to donate,” he said. “You just know it’s going to help people. It is one way I can do something.”

Pinkham is among hundreds of loyal blood donors at Electric Boat. In 30 years donors at Electric Boat have donated 31,386 pints of blood. Each pint collected has the potential to save three lives (blood is separated into three components – red cells, plasma and platelets), which means Electric Boat employees have potentially saved nearly 94,000 lives, more than the population of Rhode Island’s second largest city, Warwick.