Bleeding kindness for kids and community
Kind, committed and hardworking – qualities that describe both a bus driver and a blood donor, who just happens to be one and the same: Harold Green.
Green, 74, has driven a school bus from pick up locations in Ponte Vedra Beach to the Bolles School Bartram Campus and back for the past nine years. He’s also given blood platelets for 51 years.
Green drives 500 miles a week making three round-trips to Ponte Vedra Beach a day. “Mr. Green is one of the nicest people I have ever met,” said one Bolles mother, whose children have all ridden Green’s bus. “The kids on his bus absolutely love him.”
While the 35 Bolles students on his route know Green for his kind-hearted demeanor, more than 1,500 blood recipients only know that someone’s heart has made their lives and the community a better place.
A 1963 Army assignment in Texas for gun school set the path for Green for years to come; it was during that time that Green donated his first pint of blood. In 1986, he started to donate platelets with The Blood Alliance and each of his donations were made in Duval County to help fellow residents of Northeast Florida. He has made 503 local donations which equates to enriching or saving the lives of more than 1,500 local patients.
He is now one of the biggest blood donors in the country, and the 10th person in Northeast Florida to reach a milestone giving level – 100 gallons of donated blood.
The Blood Alliance and the Bolles School celebrated Green’s century mark on Nov. 17 as he became a member of a very elite group of donors, but remains humble about his accomplishment.
“The importance for me to keep giving blood is because it really boils down to a matter of life and death…and if you have the choice to choose helping someone live wouldn’t you try to help any which way you can?” said Green. “It’s about saving lives, and most folks don’t even realize it’s just a 30-minute effort that can make the difference between life and death for someone living in our community, maybe even someone you know.”
By Kate A. Hallock
Resident Community News
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading... 
