This Year, Consider Paying For Your Thanksgiving Meal In Blood

In the community of Chatham in southwest Chicago, you'll be able to pay for your Thanksgiving dinner in blood this year. It's not as macabre as it sounds: There's a blood drive this weekend that promotes donating to a community in need, and taking home turkey at the end sure beats the hell out of the Dixie cup of juice and dry little cookies you normally get after surrendering a pint.

Block Club Chicago reports that Josephine's Cafe is hosting the event with the Chicago Community Blood Center, and interested participants can donate blood this Saturday and Sunday, after which they'll be sent home with a Thanksgiving meal to go, as long as supplies last. Walk-ins are welcome, but appointments are highly encouraged. As the CDC has repeatedly reminded the public, donating blood during the COVID-19 pandemic is still safely possible as long as everyone follows masking and social distancing protocols. Not only does blood donation save lives, but places like the American Red Cross are also doing testing to examine platelets for COVID-19 antibodies. If antibodies are present, then plasma from those donations can assist with convalescent plasma transfusions.

Are there any innovative blood drives happening near you? If so, share them below. Blood donations drop steeply during the holidays because people tend to make holiday plans, so if there's any sort of drive happening in your area, help out if you can. Every little bit—or in this case, every last drop—counts. You just might get a delicious dinner out of it.