OCEAN CITY, Md. – Father’s Day falls on June 15 this year, but Robert Jenkins and his son Andrew got an early start by donating blood together at the Ocean City Summer Blood Drive on Monday, June 9.
The pair gave double red cell donations side by side at the Roland E. Powell Convention Center with Blood Bank of Delmarva Collections Supervisor Chelsea Akers. It’s not their first time donating as a team. (Blood Bank of Delmarva is part of New York Blood Center Enterprises.)
“In fact, he got me back into it,” Robert said. “I used to donate back in the ‘90s, and then I got back surgery. After that, I hadn’t donated in a long time.”
Andrew, who first donated at Stephen Decatur High School in Ocean City, shares his father’s O positive blood type, and encouraged him to give blood again.
“They would call me, and I’d come into the center,” Andrew said. “After Covid, I stopped doing it for a little bit, but I got back into it.”
Added Robert, “Now they call me. He got me back into it. But this morning, I went in and dragged him out of bed. He dragged me back into it, but this morning I dragged him.”
All joking aside, the father-son duo enjoy donating and giving back to the Ocean City community, especially in honor of Father’s Day.