Gift From the Heart

Raised on a tradition of charity, Ulysses S. Griggs Jr. said the thought of giving up his blood first occurred to him in 1950, when he took part in an ROTC blood drive while a student at UCLA.

Since then, Griggs has steadily lent his arm to the cause.

By 1985, he had given 100 pints, a figure he doubled some seven years later.

By Monday, the jovial 71-year-old was reclining in an all-too-familiar position, pumping his fist for the nurse to insert a needle and ready to surpass another milestone--the donation of his 300th pint of blood at the Childrens Hospital Los Angeles.

In 51 years, he has shed more than 37 gallons of the stuff.

“Giving blood makes my soul feel good,” said Griggs, surrounded by well-wishers, at a hospital reception in his honor. “I give blood because I want to give something back and because it helps people.”

During the early days, Griggs, a retired manager of UCLA’s mail and messenger service, said he was permitted to donate blood only twice a year, but now he has upped his pace and gives blood once a month.

But the key to his giving has been good health. “I’ve been blessed with having a healthy body,” he said. “I don’t take any medications and don’t have high blood pressure. I feel great.”

For all the magnitude of Griggs’ contributions, they represent only a drop in the bucket when it comes to an institution the size of Childrens Hospital.

The hospital receives about 10,000 donations of blood a year, but needs another 5,000 donations to make ends meet, said Jacque Tagliere, a spokeswoman for the hospital’s blood bank.

Most Southern California institutions have trouble raising enough blood through donations for transfusions and treatments for cancers, heart surgeries and other uses.

The shortages “have something to do with the fact that we are so spread out and people have to drive so far,” Tagliere said.

But for Griggs, an Altadena resident, distance and time are not a problem. At Monday’s donation, he sat for a two-hour procedure to give platelets.

Some of his guests marveled at his accomplishment.

“I can’t imagine what 300 pints of blood looks like let alone it coming from one person,” said Rep. Diane Watson (D-Los Angeles), a longtime friend.

Mayor James K. Hahn also dropped by to deliver a proclamation and encourage Griggs not to rest now that he has hit the 300 plateau. “We’re going to get a lot more blood out of you,” he said.