Toastmaster honored for platelet donation

May 14—While it is a good cause, donating blood can be time consuming. This is especially the case when donating platelets, which can take up to three hours per sitting. Erik Schneider of Lockport found an effective use of his time in January while he was in the middle of donating platelets. He gave a speech over a Zoom call with the AM Lockport Toastmasters, as part of a competition.

Schneider, who is a housekeeping foreman at Canisius College, joined the AM Lockport Toastmasters Club in 2016 after being invited by fellow member Catherine Orr.

"I thought he was a wonderfully enthusiastic and a community-service minded person, and right away he was so friendly and very outgoing," said Orr in a phone interview. "so I invited him to our toastmaster open house, and he joined us within a year."

He attended a few meetings prior to joining, as they are open for the public to show up and listen.

"I had never done public speaking in my life," said Schneider in an interview. "and Catherine thought this would be a very beneficial club to come and learn how I could become a better speaker."

Since then he's held several high club officer positions with the AM Lockport Toastmasters, including sergeant at arms, secretary, VP of membership, VP of public relations, president, and currently immediate past president. The oratory skills he's gained has helped him give presentations since he's decided to go back to school at Canisius. He has also participated in several other districtwide Toastmaster competitions.

In January he participated in a Table Topics Speech Contest, which would involve him having to give a one- to two-minute improvised speech along with other members of District 65, which comprises Western and Central New York. The speech involves all competitors answering a question given by a contest master.

Considering how donating platelets can take a couple of hours, and that his speech would have only taken a few minutes over a Zoom call, Schneider decided to do both at the same time. In the end, he won second place in the contest for the area.

Sam Mehta of Rochester who is also in District 65, said that due to the improvisational nature of Table Topic contests, participants are usually very nervous. He was impressed to find that Schneider was confident and eager in his delivery despite the fact that he was in the middle of donating platelets.

"This is something where people are nervous, and try to prepare, and sometimes don't eat in the morning," said Mehta during a phone interview. "In the case of Erik, it was the exact opposite. Here he was, sitting on that chair, and he's enjoying himself competing."

Schneider hadn't explained to the other Toastmaster members beforehand what he was doing during his speech, and some were even worried that he had been hospitalized. He did explain afterwards that he was only donating platelets.

"Folks were asking him if he was okay, or if he was in the hospital. They couldn't tell where he was or why he was on a bed and hooked up to machinery," said Orr. "He clarified how he's done this for a while, and this is when the contest fell, so he didn't cancel."

Schneider already donates blood and platelets whenever possible, usually at ConnectLife's Bryant & Stratton Way location. He says he likes giving back to the community, especially since there is an urgent need right now for blood and platelets. He has donated his platelets 30 times already, and has a goal of getting up to 100.

Schneider was recognized for his creative generosity in the Toastmasters International newsletter.

"Bravo, Erik." Mehta was quoted in the newsletter. "We are proud of you and may you continue to help humanity with your magnanimity."

What is Toastmasters

Toastmasters International is an organization with the tagline "where leaders are made."

The Lockport Club meets from 7 to 8:30 a.m. Thursdays at the YWCA, 32 Cottage St. in Lockport.

A Toastmasters meeting focuses on public speaking with several assigned roles including:

A "Toastmaster" who serves as master of ceremony.

Someone to provide and invocation

A grammarian who listens for clever phrases

A wordmaster who assigns a word of the day

An "ah counter" who counts ahs, ums and filler words

A timer who keeps speakers on track with green, yellow and red cards

A "topic master" who calls on club members to speak randomly

Two to three speakers who speak for five to seven minutes

An evaluator who gives two to three minutes of positive feedback on each speech

People join for many different reasons, but club members often learn to run better professional meetings and end up promoted at work.

For more information, visit https://www.amlockporttm.org/