History of the Heinlein Society and the Robert A. Heinlein Memorial Blood Drives
Robert Anson Heinlein (July 7, 1907 - May 8, 1988) was known as the "Dean of Science Fiction Writers", but he was much more. He was a philanthropist who helped many charitable causes and individuals. When asked how he could be repaid for his help, he would reply, "You can't pay me back, you have to pay it forward."
One cause that was of great importance to him was blood donation. Having a rare blood type himself (AB+), he was a frequent donor and a supporter of the National Rare Blood Club, which was an integral part of his novel I Will Fear No Evil. In 1976, at the 34th World Science Fiction Convention in Kansas City, he helped to organize the first of many science fiction convention blood drives.
The Heinlein Society was formed in 2000 to preserve the legacy of Robert Heinlein by "paying it forward." One of the ways we are doing this is by promoting blood donation around the world. We began by our efforts with an internet blood drive, encouraging fans to donate at their local blood banks and send their names to us to be entered into our honor roll and presented to the late Mrs. Virginia Heinlein. That drive continues annually in her absence.
In 2001, at the 59th World Science Fiction Convention in Philadelphia, the Society sponsored its first onsite blood drive, with the Red Cross collecting 60 units of blood. In the 6 years since then we have sponsored more than 50 drives, generating more than 2,000 units of blood and saving potentially thousands of lives.
Each donor at our drives (and at many other drives that request them) receives a cloisonné pin that was designed by Mr. Heinlein for that first World Con blood drive in Kansas City as our way of saying, "Thank you for helping."
The Heinlein Society has also established programs to:
- Place the books of Robert Heinlein in libraries everywhere, especially in school libraries where his juvenile novels may continue to help to form character and provoke critical and intelligent thinking among our young people
- Award scholarships and grants to worthy young people
- Assist in disseminating the works of Robert Heinlein into new languages and formats
- Explore the possibility of accurate and true to book renditions of Robert Heinlein's stories to film and other media
- Promote scholarly research and overall discussion of the works and ideas of Robert Heinlein
You can learn more about Robert Heinlein and the Heinlein Society at http://www.heinleinsociety.org
Last update: Mon, 9 Jul 2007 by Rich Zellich