WonderCon Robert A. Heinlein Memorial Blood Drive 2026
Anaheim Convention Center
In 2026, WonderCon’s 18th Robert A. Heinlein Memorial Blood Drive collected a record-setting 716 units of life-saving blood, with 390 of those donations coming from first-time donors! The blood drive is co-sponsored by The Heinlein Society and Southern California Blood Bank in Irvine.
As a thank you for their donations, blood donors received a Marvel Wolverine T-shirt with cover art by Leinil Francis Yu.
Donors also got to choose a special prize and receive a cloisonné pin designed by Heinlein himself.
Blood is always in short supply and desperately needed. Please consider making a donation at the WonderCon Robert A. Heinlein Memorial Blood Drive in 2027!
In the early 1970s, Robert A. Heinlein had a life-threatening illness and needed many pints of a rare blood type. He felt he owed his life to the donors, so when asked to be a guest at the 1976 Worldcon in his hometown of Kansas City, he agreed—but with one specific stipulation: that he would only sign autographs for people who donated blood.
Heinlein’s 1951 novel, Between Planets, helped popularize the phrase, “Pay it forward.” Please make it a point to pay it forward this year, save people’s lives, get an awesome shirt, and have some cookies and juice while you’re at it!
Thank You,
WonderCon Robert A. Heinlein Memorial Blood Drive
A Brief History of Robert A. Heinlein
Robert Anson Heinlein (July 7, 1907–May 8, 1988) was one of the most popular and respected science fiction authors of the 20th century. By setting a high standard for science and engineering plausibility, he helped raise the genre’s standards of literary quality. He was the first writer to break into mainstream magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post in the late 1940s with unvarnished science fiction. He was among the first bestselling novel-length science fiction authors in the modern mass-market era.
Four of Heinlein’s novels (Double Star, Starship Troopers, Stranger in a Strange Land, and The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress) won Hugo Awards in the years they were published. In 2001, another novel (Farmer in the Sky) and a novella (The Man Who Sold the Moon) received “Retro Hugos” for the year 1951, and the movie Destination Moon, which was based on a Heinlein story, received the “Retro Hugo” for Best Dramatic Presentation.
He was the first writer to be named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America for lifetime achievement.
Heinlein was known as the “Dean of Science Fiction Writers,” but he was much more. He was a philanthropist who helped many charitable causes and individuals. When asked how he could be repaid for his help, he would reply, “You can’t pay me back, you have to pay it forward.”One cause that was of great importance to him was blood donation. Having a rare blood type himself (AB+), he was a frequent donor and a supporter of the National Rare Blood Club, which was an integral part of his novel I Will Fear No Evil. In 1976, at the 34th World Science Fiction Convention in Kansas City, he helped organize the first of many science fiction convention blood drives. He did the same in 1977 at San Diego Comic-Con. In 2026, Comic-Con will celebrate its 50th year of the Comic-Con Robert A. Heinlein Blood Drive.
A Brief History of The Heinlein Society
The Heinlein Society was formed in 2000 to preserve the legacy of Robert A. Heinlein by “paying it forward.” One of the ways the Society is doing this is by promoting blood donation around the world. The group began this effort with an Internet blood drive, encouraging fans to donate at their local blood banks and send their names to the society to be entered into its honor roll, presented to the late Mrs. Virginia Heinlein.
In 2001, at the 59th World Science Fiction Convention in Philadelphia, the society sponsored its first onsite blood drive, with the Red Cross collecting 60 units of blood. Since then, the organization has sponsored more than 200 drives, generating more than 48,000 units of blood and saving potentially tens of thousands of lives.
You can learn more about Robert Heinlein and the Heinlein Society at www.heinleinsociety.org.
