Vinton Smith poses for a photo with Alaskan Airlines pilots during last June’ s trip to Honolulu, Hawaii. Vinton has donated blood in 50 states; the last state being Hawaii.
donors, especially Tom. So, when Vinton got his first chance to donate blood during his senior year at Commodore Perry High School, he jokingly said he did it to get out of class. Vinton didn’ t expect that donation on April 8, 1988, to take on a life of its own.
“ He looked up to his dad being a big blood donor and followed in his footsteps,” said Vinton’ s 82-year-old mother, Carol.“ I never dreamt that it would turn into more. I’ m so proud of him.”
After high school, Vinton studied dairy and animal science at Penn State University, where he gave his O-positive blood regularly. Vinton returned to the family farm for four years and then worked for the Cooperative Extension System in Cornell, New York, and Penn State.
“ After I graduated and got into my career and adult life, I just had a desire to give blood regularly,” he said.“ It was something that was innate in me – a personal satisfaction to help others.”
For the last 20 years, Vinton has worked in sales and consulting in the animal health industry while living in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, with his wife, Sharon. His job requires a lot of travel, so when he couldn’ t give blood at home because of a business trip to Florida, he did the next best thing.
“ I thought maybe I can find a place( in Florida) to donate blood, and I did,” Vinton said.
After a few years, his travels had taken him to 16 states, where he gave blood in each one. Once he hit 25 states, he set his sights on all 50.“ I began making a deliberate effort to accomplish this goal,” he said.“ When we were on vacation, my kids donated with me in Delaware. When my wife and I were in New Orleans, I donated( in Louisiana).”
A little over a year ago, Vinton had notched his 47th state. Nevada, Alaska, and Hawaii remained. During a business meeting in Denver, he paid $ 90 to fly to Las Vegas just to give blood and he immediately returned.
Airfare to Alaska wasn’ t cheap, so he reached out to Alaskan Airlines and shared his story.
“ I wondered if Alaskan Airlines would be interested in getting me to Alaska if they had an empty seat,” he said.“ The young lady who got back to me was very excited about it. It fit in to what they wanted to do with the community.”
Alaskan Airlines flew Vinton to
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