Chris Fontanez is a results-driven kind of guy who also enjoys healthy competition.
It’s how he operates in his career in logistics; it’s how he operates as a dad.
And it probably says a lot about why the 55-year-old Plano man who is manager of a casket distribution center in Aurora was recently notified he and his family have been inducted into the National Blood Donation Hall of Fame.
The honor was give to Fontanez, along with his 19-year-old son Lucas and 16-year-old daughter Sydney, by the global health care company Fresenius Kabo, which specializes in injectable medicines and technology for infusions and transfusions.
That’s because every eight weeks for the past six years, Fontanez has not only been donating a pint of blood at Versiti Blood Center in Yorkville, he got the children involved when they both turned 16, the age requirement for being a donor.
Fontanez has contributed “26 lifetime products,” which is equivalent to three gallons, according to a Fresenius Kabo press release. Lucas has made 13 donations and Sydney four.
Wife Sara, who had cancer challenges, is not able to give blood, Fontanez noted, or otherwise she too would be in on this family affair that has turned into a friendly competition.
Fontanez donated blood a couple times in college, but it wasn’t until 2020 when the Kane County Cougars put out a call for donors that he rolled up his sleeve again. One payoff: Free tickets to a game, he recalled. “But it really is a good way to do something for the community.”
And, he added matter-of-factly, “It’s not all that hard to do.”
That’s especially true of a person who likes routines, who likes “doing things over and over,” he admitted. Every eight weeks, in fact. That’s the required time between donations, which he makes at the Yorkville center only a quick 10 minutes from his home.
It seemed only natural that when his eldest turned 16, “I started bringing him with me.”
Lucas, by the way, bought into the idea quickly. At age 11 he needed multiple transfusions after breaking his femur in a school accident, he told me. And “due to the generosity of others” he was able to get the surgery within 12 hours.
Plus, his dad said, the breakfasts he and Lucas would share after each donation “forced him to spend time with his old man.”
No surprise here that Sydney joined in as soon as she turned 16. And that’s when the competition began, says Fontanez, who claims his “parenting style has always been you can’t just show up, it’s all about results.”
Whoever gives blood the quickest not only gets the coveted family trophy – a vampire holding a vile of blood – that person also gets bragging rights for the next eight weeks.
While Dad has so far been the biggest winner, there’s no question his daughter could claim “the fastest draw” were it not for the fact that, as a female, she sometimes has to contend with an iron deficiency.
But Sydney knows how to compete, claims Fontanez, noting she not only gets up an hour or two earlier to exercise to get the heart pumping the day of the donation, she also lays off sugar for a few days and drinks more water to improve her time.
The National Blood Donation Hall of Fame award came as a surprise to the family, who are appreciative of the recognition, if for no other reason it might just encourage other families to make a game of sorts out of donating blood.
As the American Red Cross pointed out recently, there is a shortage, especially in the wake of the national climate-related disasters last month that devastated some of our southern states.
“It’s a game for all of us. But I do it as a great way to teach kids the importance of giving back,” said Chris Fontanez. “We always need healthy people to donate blood.”
Lucas, a freshman at Indiana State University, now has his blood drawn in Terre Haute when he’s not home, doing so on the same day his dad and sister are donating in Yorkville.
As for Sydney, she not only volunteers at the blood center, she’s recruited boyfriend Dalton to join this family endeavor.
“It is all about giving back to my community,” she concluded, “and taking care of others.”
dcrosby@tribpub.com
