NAACP Chairman Leon Russell has always believed in showing up for his community, and donating blood is one way he’s done just that. Leon began giving blood in the 1970s, making it a regular part of his life for many years. He returned to the donor chair during a blood drive at the 116th NAACP Convention in Charlotte, NC, to honor the memory of his two younger brothers, Amos and Phyllis, who both lived with sickle cell disease. Leon remembers the long drives from their small town in Virginia to the hospital when his brothers would suffer a sickle cell crisis. “It was still during a period of time when there were segregated facilities,” Leon said. “It was a four-hour drive from our house to the University of Virginia Hospital.” His brothers experienced these painful crises from childhood on, and blood transfusions were often the only thing that could ease their suffering. “Seeing them go through a crisis and then having the crisis recede after the blood donation was the most immedia...