Kansas Day is Jan. 29, the day we mark our state entering the Union and getting our star on the flag.

For us Kansans, it’s a day we typically mark with sunflower coloring pages brought home by youngsters, and visits to local museums — or even a trip to our Capitol in Topeka. And we look back on the 161 years of statehood and what it means to be a Kansan.

Whether your people were here long before covered wagons, or whether they came here to settle a section with a sod house and a dream, or if they came from a land far away and spoke a different language. If you’re a Wildcat, Jayhawk, Tiger, Gorilla, Shocker or Hornet, or any other mascot gracing our state schools. If you’re red, blue, or a shade in between on the political scale. If you’re a little bit country, or a little bit city. We are all Kansans.

Chips are down

It’s been that way since before we entered the Union. Sure, there were skirmishes and wars. There’s been conflict, and there still continues to be conflict even today. That’s why our state motto is “Ad astra per aspera” — “To the stars through difficulties.”

But when the chips were down, no matter the prior disagreements, Kansans pulled together.

We’ve pulled together after tornadoes, fires and floods. We’ve pulled together in times of war and national emergency. We’ve faced down pandemics and locusts. We’ve harvested crops for neighbors fighting cancer, hosted steak feeds for our troops, and packed book bags of food for hungry kids.

Well, fellow Kansans, it’s time to pull together once again.

Blood shortage

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment and the Kansas Trauma Program put out a call this last week for blood donations. Our hospitals, along with many across the nation, are experiencing blood shortages from fewer donations. According to the Red Cross, there is less than a one-day supply of critical blood types. And the Community Blood Center for the region that Kansas is in has a one- to two-day supply.

Now, you and I know that in our rural areas, a pint of blood at the right time can mean the difference between someone surviving a catastrophic emergency and dying. Imagine having a farm accident, and there’s no blood at your rural hospital. Or think about the procedures our family and neighbors might need to postpone because of a blood shortage.

Our doctors and health care workers are already slammed with COVID-19. Doing our part to fix the “worst blood shortage in over a decade” seems like something we can pull together to take off their shoulders.

Donate for Kansas

I can think of no better way to mark Kansas Day, and the end of National Blood Donor month, than making an appointment to donate blood this weekend, if you’re able.

Do it for your neighbor who needs that hip surgery. Do it for the teenager in the car accident on the highway. Do it for the Kansan you know — and the ones you don’t know.

Heck, do it for the cookie and juice afterward!

If you were to ask me what is the defining characteristic of a Kansan, I would answer that no matter the squabbles of the day, we take care of our neighbors when they need us. Together, we can achieve anything that seems impossible.

Well, friends, it’s time we come together once again.

To find a location to donate blood, here are some websites you can visit:

• American Red Cross: redcrossblood.org
• Community Blood Center: savealifenow.org
• America’s Blood Centers: americasblood.org