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Did you know that more than 75 countries have produced stamps, cards and cancellations touting the importance of blood donations? Well, blood donor Stephen Olson does. For the last 12 years Stephen has been collecting these rare stamps. He is the proud owner of more than 200 stamps, envelopes and other postal material related to blood donation from countries as far away as Papua New Guinea, Saudi Arabia, and the former USSR - and as close as right here in the United States. Stephen started collecting stamps as a child but as he got older, he realized he couldn't collect every kind of stamp in the world, so he decided to collect stamps that relate to topics most dear to his heart - and blood donation is one of them. “My grandfather was the first person in Ohio to donate five gallons of blood during World War II,” recalls Stephen. “My father was also a blood donor so it's been a part of my life for as long as I can remember.” Stephen, who recently reached his 100th milestone in blood donations, has been donating since the Saturday after his 17th birthday. He remembers being surprised that everyone at his local blood center in Akron, Ohio made such a “big deal” about his donation. “Doesn't everyone give blood?” he asked, thinking of his father and grandfather. “No, they don't,” he was told. Well, that was 40 years ago and Stephen Olson hasn’t stopped giving. For 30 years, Stephen donated whole blood at Peninsula Blood Bank and now at BCP’s Irwin Center. In November, Stephen’s remarkable stamp collection will be exhibited at the 52nd Annual Meeting of the American Association of Blood Banks.
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