Sandakan : The St Mary’s Catholic Nurses Guild in collaboration with the Sandakan InterChurch held a blood donation drive on Sunday, 22nd November 2009 at St Mary’s Parish Hall from 8.00 am to 1.00 pm.
Patrick Seah, the Chairperson of the blood donation drive said the event was organized by rotation among its member churches monthly and St Mary’s Cathedral was allocated to do the campaign for the month of November.
The main objective of the noble campaign is to support the Duchess of Kent Hospital so that there will always be sufficient blood supply in its blood bank.
“The organizer had targetted to collect at least 50 pints from the parishioners. We managed to collect 30 pints and we are grateful to all the donors who had supported the drive”, said the Chairperson.
Christopher Aban who had donated blood for the 12th times now has this to say, “I donate blood three times a year, a practice I adhere to, in order to save lives and at the same time donating blood gives me good health too.”
Wong Leong Keong and his wife, Maureen Lai both regular blood donors to charity shared, “We are happy that we can contribute in saving others and at the same time supporting our own church activities”.
Dallius Lobinjang , a regular blood donor himself said that blood donation is a social responsibility and should be fully supported by everyone.
Overall, the campaign was a success and the organizer hoped that many more good Samaritans from among the parishioners will respond to donate their precious blood to save lives in the future.
article by Susanna Cordova and photos by Josephine Pereira