Surprising Way L. Ron Hubbard and Robert A. Heinlein Just Saved 10,000 Lives
Bestselling authors L. Ron Hubbard and Robert A. Heinlein are well-known for their epic, trendsetting science fiction. This past week, these two great legends of sci-fi were teamed up to save lives.
Galaxy Press, the publisher of the fiction works of L. Ron Hubbard, had the honor of helping LifeSouth at this year’s Dragon Con with their Robert A. Heinlein “Pay It Forward” Blood Drive by providing 2,000 1st edition copies of L. Ron Hubbard’s Battlefield Earth to give to blood donors.
The objective was to team up and set a new record in the number of donations by providing a very valuable book in appreciation of their life-giving contribution.
And together we did just that, with 3,214 donors this year — nearly 400 more than last year!
The annual drive — consistently ranked as the largest convention-based blood drive — benefits LifeSouth, which serves more than 40 hospitals in the Atlanta area and 110 hospitals in the Southeast.
Facts about blood donations
Here are some facts that you may not know:
- 5 million Americans would die each year without life-saving blood transfusions.
- Approximately 32,000 pints of blood are used each day in the United States.
- Just one pint of donated blood can help save as many as three lives.
- The average adult has 10 pints of blood in their body. (data courtesy of Brookhaven National Laboratories)
So, with over 3,200 blood donations, this year’s blood drive will potentially help save 10,000 lives!
What many blood donators did not know was that Robert A. Heinlein and L. Ron Hubbard were great friends. When Battlefield Earth was initially published, a congratulatory letter was sent to Ron by Mr. Heinlein. So we decided to create a special book wrap for the blood drive with the letter printed on it. Here is that letter:
Some of the people who donated blood came by our booth at Dragon Con after donating to thank us for the gift.
Others came by to see if there were any more books as the blood drive had run out by Sunday afternoon (with a full day of the convention still remaining). People told us they were donating blood just to get their copy of the Battlefield Earth 1st edition.
Here’s a short video of what some of them had to say:
From all of us here at Galaxy Press, and on behalf of L. Ron Hubbard, we would like to give our thanks to the dedicated staff at LifeSouth and most of all to the thousands of individuals at Dragon Con who donated blood in order to save lives. Your gift is truly priceless.
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This is a wondeful exchange! I’ve read Battlefield Earth twice and listened to the audio book. What a cool way to psy another for their precious blood. I just imagine L. Ron Hubbard would graciously acknowledge each for their gift to help another when most needed.
Thanks, Jesse. Totally agreed! And again, we so appreciated each and every one of the fans who donated to help others in need.