Vitalant announced that an Alturas man who has donated blood for more than three decades received an unexpected reward last year: $30,000 toward the purchase of a vehicle.
Harold Montague was selected in a random drawing from thousands of donors who participated in Vitalant’s July giveaway, held July 9-31.
Montague told Vitalant he nearly deleted a voicemail informing him of the prize, assuming it was spam. After mentioning the message to his wife, she urged him to return the call. A Vitalant representative later confirmed he had won.
“It wasn’t until the $30,000 was sitting in the dealership’s hands that we went from the ‘I can’t believe this is real’ feeling to the elation of, ‘Wow, this is really happening,’” Montague said.
Montague has donated blood for more than 30 years and serves as a blood drive coordinator. His qualifying donation took place July 15, when he gave a Power Red donation at a community blood drive he organized.
“I started donating blood simply to pay it forward,” Montague said. As a high school Spanish teacher and activities coordinator in the late 1980s, he used blood drives to encourage students to give back. During his 35-year teaching career, his school hosted two to three blood drives each year.
