To some people, the thought of giving blood is terrifying. However, for Trenton Raney, it is something that makes him feel wonderful. This junior takes giving blood as a serious part of his life. It is a key factor as to why he is so proud of himself.

“The first time I gave blood was when my grandma was in the hospital with cancer,” he said.

Distraught, he realized that he could help people just like the person that had helped his grandmother get better. From what was such a tragic time in his life, Raney had turned it into something that he could learn from. And now, he is determined to make it a part of his entire life.

“My goal is to donate 10 gallons of blood,” he said.

He is at two liters. It’s easy to think that he would give up after a few visits to the blood bank, but he has already scheduled days in which he will return and hopes to keep going back until he has reached his goal.

And because he wants to be committed to giving blood, he has started to donate to a little girl named Emma Jane Young, who has leukemia. His mother and her mother have been friends since their high school years, but Raney still hasn’t met her. However, he plans to soon.

He wants to be there for her and help her in her time of need. Because of his experience with his grandmother, he finds it necessary that he gives to a greater cause, but he says that he doesn’t necessarily need to meet the little girl, but that it would be nice if he could.

He tells people that he likes knowing that he can change someone’s life by giving a part of himself, and that because he can give blood, he will.

“The fact that a total stranger can change someone’s life is wonderful,” he said.

He wants to give a part of him to help someone overcome a hardship and he looks at blood as a part of his body that he has enough of to share with others. Because his goal is so high, he finds it a little bit scary, but knows that he can do it if it means that someone will benefit from it.

“I do it because I want to help people,” he said. “I want to be there when others aren’t. I understand how long it will take to reach my goal, but I am committed to helping Emma.”

Besides the fact that others benefit from his donations, he benefits as well. Each time he gives blood, he receives a shirt or two and on rare occasions, he ends up on television.

“I was interviewed and got a chance to be on TV for a KCRA blood drive,” he said. “It made me feel important, like I was fixing the world in the little ways that I know how to.”

His brother, Trevin Raney, has also given blood from time to time, and says that it isn’t something he would like to do again, but wants to find some other way he can help people.

The two twins go to blood banks together, and even when Trevin doesn’t give blood, he sits there in support of Trenton’s donation, taking pictures and videos to document each and every trip they make.