To support the annual celebration of “World Blood Donor Day”, the Ang Dating Daan religious group will hold a series of mass blood drive for the month of June on various locations nationwide.
Bro. Eli Soriano, Presiding Minister to Members Church of God International (MCGI), spearheads the charity efforts through the group’s ADD Foundation International. MCGI is more popularly-known in the Philippines for the religious show it produces, Ang Dating Daan.
“World Blood Donor Day” is a World Health Organization (WHO) event held every June 14. This year, WHO aims to raise awareness about safe blood for saving mothers.
Nationwide Blood Drive
Incidentally, Ang Dating Daan’s mass blood drive will commence on June 14 until June 29 this year. The date when majority of locations participating the blood drive activity will be on June 22 (Sunday) in the Philippines.
Blood Donors Society national coordinator Gilbert Jacome said that they are mobilizing 17 locations for the blood drive in Mindanao, 16 locations in Visayas, and the rest in Luzon.
“As often as every quarter people could donate blood,” said Mr. Jacome in explaining the rationale about they hold the quarterly blood donation activities.
In cooperation with the Department of Health (DoH) and Philippine Red Cross (PRC), the blood donation campaign will be held at around 70 key locations across the Philippines.
Ang Dating Daan holds mass blood drive on a quarterly basis with key partners, including the Blood Donor Society.
Beyond Blood Drives
Mr. Jacome also mentioned that Ang Dating Daan’s blood assistance programs are not only limited on donations to DOH and PRC, which is apart from the quarterly mass blood donation campaigns.
There are those who come to the ADD Foundation in need of blood transfusion, which the religious group help.
“In average [we help] 100 patients [recipients] monthly; then around 200 bags of blood are given on blood assistance alone,” Jacome said.
During the previous quarter, Ang Dating Daan collected about 2,000 blood bags from volunteer donors from 47 locations across the Philippines.
On average, around 10,000 blood units are amassed yearly by MCGI, which it donates to government and non-government organizations.
ADD Foundation also maintains other services like orphanages and medical missions in various locations nationwide to reach out to the marginalized sectors of the society.
Written by Roy Cruz
