The Cousineaus Are out for Blood

You can donate a pint of blood every 56 days, and that just may mean life or death to someone in an emergency.

Gina Cousineau and her family's Be a Hero, Become a Donor charity is working on becoming the central agency for collecting blood in San Clemente. Last year, the Cousineaus--including San Clemente High School student Derek Cousineau, the president of the BAHBAD club at the school--collected about 450 units.

in San Clemente uses about 1,500 units per year, so that means BAHBAD collected about 30 percent of all the blood used at the hospital last year.

"We have 92 units this year, and we expect to have about 150 after today," Gina Cousineau said at the group's blood drive Saturday in SCHS parking lot. "But we're not done."

She said the goal is to hold a blood drive every couple months.

"The people of San Clemente, if you give them an opportunity to help, they really step up," Gina Cousineau said.