Boardroom Becomes Blood Donation Center

Frank Plut

Frank Plut’s blood is “blessed,” as someone affiliated with the Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center once said. It’s blessed because the make-up is such that Plut’s plasma can be given to newborn babies – as well as to other people with special medical needs.

So, it’s only fitting that Plut, a platelets donor who gives blood a maximum of 20 times a year, is a driving force behind Imperial Sugar’s blood drives.

Now, corporate blood drives are nothing new. But how many companies transform their boardrooms into blood donation centers five times a year like Imperial Sugar does? Well, it’s probably not many.

Before Plut took the lead, the company did conduct blood drives, but they were sporadic. “When somebody thought about it, we had one.”

Starting in 2005, Imperial Sugar began scheduling regular blood drives throughout the year at its corporate offices in Sugar Land, Texas. “We’re averaging about 28 donors per blood drive,” he says today. That’s about a third of the headquarters staff.

“We’ve donated a total of 58.5 gallons – or 468 pints in 17 blood drives,” according to Plut, a senior payroll specialist who has been with the company for a little over 23 years.

Plut made his first blood donation almost 30 years ago. From 1999 to 2004, he began donating whole blood about every eight weeks. Then, he switched over to giving plasma and platelets. Reviewing his recent records, Plut says he’s donated 27.5 gallons of blood, plasma or platelets.

Imperial Sugar works with the Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center, which disperses units to major hospitals in the Houston area.

“One time, they called me to come in five weeks in a row for a little girl in a hospital in Houston who needed platelets because she had leukemia. It was the only time they called me for a special person,” recalls Plut, father of two and a grandfather of three.

To maintain a steady level of donations, Plut watches “what I eat before I donate so I’m sure I’m able to donate every time I go,” adding it’s important to “keep the iron level up, that’s one big thing.”

While other companies with bigger employee populations might donate more blood, the consistency of Imperial Sugar’s drives is what matter most – with every donation saving three lives.

Later this summer, Plut once again will be making the rounds as Imperial Sugar’s boardroom becomes a temporary blood donation center.

As the regular donors line up to give, Plut knows there will be some good-natured kidding. “When we have a blood drive around here, people go: ‘Oh no. Here he comes. He’s going to come after me.’“

Says Plut: “They call me Dracula, but I love it.”