John Wollstein can’t remember why he started giving blood. He thinks it was when he was in college. He just started doing it and kept at it, except when he was out of the country. Wollstein, a retired DOE Foreign Language Education specialist, has traveled extensively, including spending a year in Africa visiting every country on the continent.

But when he could, he gave blood and was happy to do it. This week, Wollstein, 82, donated his 100th unit of blood.

His daughter Noemi Yoshida, 22, recently returned to Honolulu after graduating from college and then spending a year in Japan. To mark her father’s donation milestone, she accompanied Wollstein with the thought of following in his footsteps.

“Do you want a cookie?” Wollstein asked his daughter. He has been to the Blood Bank so often that he’s right at home in their little kitchen, helping himself to snacks. Cookies are usually part of the routine after the blood donation. “That’s my secret. I have a cookie before and after,” he said.

Wollstein dutifully went through the three-step screening process, answering a questionnaire he’s filled out 99 times before, sitting for a short interview and having his temperature and blood pressure tested.

During the short donation process, as Wollstein’s blood filled the donation bag, Yoshida watched her dad. He had his eyes closed and he was smiling.

“He always looks forward to it. He gets so excited,” she said.

Blood Bank Director of Public Relations Maura Dolormente said longtime donors like Wollstein are very matter-of-fact about giving blood. “They see it as a social thing to do,” she said. “Like a civic duty, doing their part for the community.”

But even after all his years of giving blood, Wollstein learned something new this time. Phlebotomist Elizabeth Cole told him that he has CMV-negative blood, a type that is very useful because it has the least chance of rejection for newborn babies. “That’s baby blood,” she said. Wollstein looked pleased.

Afterward, he headed to the kitchen again. “You get a manapua now,” Wollstein said. “Would you like a chicken-and-mushroom or a char sui?” Cole asked. “Both!” Wollstein answered. He grabbed some cookies too.

Wollstein sat to enjoy his manapua. On a large video screen in the lounge, pictures of many other 100-unit blood donors appeared in succession. One Oahu man has given blood more than 275 times.

Dolormente said whenever she asks people how they started being blood donors, they almost always say it’s because of a role model, someone in their lives who saw giving blood as just something you do if you can, something you do because it’s right. “The next generation always comes from the current generation,” she said.

Yoshida plans to follow her father’s example. After the waiting period passes for a piercing she got last year, she will come with her dad to the Young Street blood bank to donate her first unit while he donates number 101.

“It’s an easy choice, it’s an easy course,” Yoshida said. “It only has positive effects.”

Reach Lee Cataluna at 529-4315 or lcataluna@staradvertiser.com.