Blood Drive for the Children
Immense response from the constituents of San Juan City inspired the Balikatan sa Kaunlaran National Foundation and Catholic Women’s League to pursue the 3rd year their joint project: Mass Blood Donation.
A number of parishioners of Santuario del Santo Cristo Parish gathered in the church’s San Lorenzo Ruiz Hall for the bloodletting early in the morning of October 23, 2016.
“It is our advocacy to raise awareness about saving lives by donating blood. We just hope that other communities and NGO’s will support and promote our endeavours,” Balikatan national president, Minerva, De Leon said.
The importance of bloodletting, according to De Leon, surpasses any form of help as this is “giving a part of you to help others live.”
The bloodletting’s beneficiaries are the patients of the National Children’s Hospital who approached Balikatan to aid them in any form they could give. According to De Leon, unlike Philippine General Hospital who has philanthropists, NCH is in dire need of help and Balikatan could not turn them down.
One avid donor testified that it was his third time to donate blood. “I love doing it because I know that I can help other people, and in this case, children. Also, there are personal benefits when you donate blood.”
Such benefits include lower risk of heart and liver ailments are caused by iron overload in the body. Overload of iron in the body are often implications of cancer. Blood donation also helps in weight loss as it reduces the weight of the donor, lowering the risk of cardiovascular disorders. ###
