By Noli A. Magsambol III and Rae L. De Mesa
A total of 173 donors took part in the bloodletting activity of the Red Cross Youth of the University of the Philippines Los Baños (RCY of UPLB) in partnership with the Philippine Red Cross (PRC) Laguna Chapter and Rotary Club of Los Baños for the benefit of Typhoon Yolanda survivors on November 28 at the lobby of the College of Human Ecology of UP Los Baños.
Bloodline: A Pledge of Life. Donors of the bloodletting activity of UPLB-RCY getting their blood counts for Yolanda victims in the College of Human Ecology on November 28. (Photo by: R. De Mesa)
Rhys Ivan Galang, Blood Program Committee Head, said that project Bloodline is an annual activity of the organization. This year, its focus is to help the wounded Typhoon Yolanda victims who are in need of blood.
“Hindi lang siya bloodline activity ng organization namin. It is also a community service because all the blood donated will be forwarded to PRC Laguna Chapter blood banks at sila na ang bahala na mag forward sa Visayas pero dadaan muna ito sa blood testing (It’s not only a bloodline activity of our organization, it is also a community service because the blood donated will be forwarded to PRC Laguna Chapter blood banks, and they will be the ones to screen and send these to Yolanda victims in Visayas).
PRC lent equipment and provided volunteer physicians to conduct the bloodletting, while the Rotary Club of Los Baños provided food and helped with the finances. Aside from these institutions, RCY of UPLB also tapped local government units in Los Baños, and 15 other student organizations in UPLB, such as Buklod-UPLB, UP ERG (UP Engineering Radio Guild), UP CES (UP Civil Engineering Society), UP MI-ABEYABE, to help in information dissemination and in bringing in donors for the activity.
Student Councilor Mungunkhishig Batbaatar of the College of Development Communication knew the activity through his friends and decided to donate in order to help. Aside from this, he volunteered in repacking relief goods in the DSWD warehouse located in the NAIA Terminal 3.
Officials from Camp Eldridge were also invited to take part in the event. Pvt. Aliijoy Banquilis and seven other officials from Laguna 403 Defense Center unit of the camp donated blood. She said that they send in people from the camp to join beneficiary activities such as fun runs and bloodletting whenever they can.
Galang shared that usually there are more or less 100 donors every year on their project Bloodline. However, they expected this number to increase since there is a high demand for blood supply in Visayas.