88-year-old donates 100th gallon of blood to Red Cross

WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) - James Parker, 88, donated his 100th gallon of blood to the Red Cross on Wednesday. The Red Cross says a gallon of blood can save anywhere from eight to 24 lives.

Parker says he first donated blood back in 1976 when he was a principal in Conway Springs, Kansas.

“They said, ‘if at least half of the senior class will donate next week when the blood mobile comes to town, will you donate?’ I didn’t have any choice because I was the principal, I was the leader of that group, I was supposed to help the group do good things. That was a good thing. Yes, I agreed to donate blood,” Parker said.

Parker has donated blood in all 50 states and to every military facility that collects blood in the continental United States.