The final celebration of Diwali and the New Year at Kingsbury Mandir was a special blood donation session on Sunday 6th November. People of all ages and backgrounds selflessly gave blood to help save the lives of complete strangers.
The event also formed part of the Mandir’s Sewa Day efforts, an initiative encouraging acts of kindness, the joy of giving, and participating in the communities which we are all a part of.
Over 116 pints of blood were collected during this incredibly successful session, helping to save nearly 350 lives! Many familiar faces returned such as Vasanti Varsani, who celebrated her 10th donation and was presented with a congratulatory card from the NHS Staff. She explained ‘It’s great to think I may have helped to save 30 lives, it’s something that is so easy to do and I would encourage others to book in for the next session’.
Des Bland, NHS Senior Charge Nurse described the session as ‘a tremendous way of showing that blood donation can bring people of different backgrounds, faiths and walks of life to join together and do something amazing for society as a whole’.
We also had a fantastic 48 new donors! Vikash Talpara, chose donating blood for the first time as a way to celebrate his 18th birthday and Abarna Jeevaraj, 17, first time donor said ‘it’s something I’ve always wanted to do and it makes me feel good to know that I have helped somebody’.
The total units collected to date is now an awe-inspiring 1890 units. The next session will be held on 26th February 2017. To book your appointment, visit blood.co.uk
