The 1326th Worldwide Blood Drive to Give Life Through the Love of the Passover

The 1326th Worldwide Blood Drive was held on 7 April 2024, by the young adult volunteers of the World Mission Society Church of God, Singapore. The donation drive was to share the love of the New Covenant Passover with the community. The volunteers invited their families, friends and acquaintances to the Health Sciences Authority, Bloodbank@HSA on Sunday morning. Additionally, the volunteers were motivated to help reverse the trend of decreasing youth donors in Singapore.

Decreasing Number of Youth Donors

The Singapore Red Cross has observed an alarming pattern where the percentage of youth donors has been dropping in the past decade. Youth accounted for 33 percent of the total donor pool in 2011, totaling 21,793. In 2023, the number declined to 11,613, representing 15 percent of the donor pool. It may result from declining birth rates and an aging population. However, the sharp decrease of about 50% indicates that more effort should be made to invite and encourage more youths to join the cause. Hence, the young adult volunteers intended to encourage more people to start their blood donation journey.

Volunteers Step Up to Encourage Others

The Guest-of-Honour, Mr Eric Chua, Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth, Ministry of Social and Family Development also gave the participants a welcome address. His presence was welcomed by all the participants, who expressed their feelings with an energetic round of applause that lit up the atmosphere. He thanked the volunteers and gave them words of encouragement. Senior Parliamentary Secretary Mr Eric Chua said “I would like to thank everyone for spending your Sunday morning participating in this blood donation drive. I believe all of you have been inspired by the spirit of volunteerism to have decided to selflessly come forth to donate your blood today.” He also expressed his gratitude to the volunteers, “I would like to thank the World Mission Society Church of God Volunteers for organizing this event, bringing all of us together to make an effort for our community.” Mr Eric Chua took a further step to encourage the participants by proceeding to donate blood himself after his address.

A total of 62 volunteers and participants attended the donation drive and 45 participants donated blood successfully. Approximately, 17,000 milliliters of blood were collected.