TRACY, CA: On Sunday, April 23, the Northern California chapter of the Sant Nirankari Mission celebrated ‘Manv Ekta Diwas’ in Tracy, California by hosting a Blood Drive in collaboration with American Red Cross. Volunteers of the Sant Nirankari Mission (sewadal) worked hard for the last few weeks planning and making arrangements for the blood donation camp. Communication mediums such as fliers, newspapers, emails, Internet as well as word of mouth were used to make everyone aware of the event and as it turned out that the effort was not in vain.
The Sant Nirankari Mission, a spiritual movement working towards universal brotherhood, celebrates ‘Manav Ekta Divas’ (Human Unity Day), every year in the month of April by organizing blood donation camps and health fairs all over the world. His Holiness Baba Hardev Singh’s message was “Blood should flow in the veins, not on the street” and let there be “Peace, Not Pieces”.
The blood camp received an overwhelming response. Around 80 people registered and 50 units of blood were collected. This will eventually save around 160 lives. All the volunteers did a lot of hard work. For instance, it was a hot day and there were volunteers of the mission standing at the stop sign (directing the donors) for hours together. Though the timing for the blood camp was from 10 am till 2pm, it had to be extended further and still there were a few who could not be accommodated.
American Red Cross was excited to see the zeal of the donors and the response that the camp received. Blood donors came from places as far as Reno, Fresno, San Jose, and Sacramento. The bank has promised to visit again next year.
Representatives from the blood bank as well as volunteers of the Sant Nirankari Mission (sewadal) gathered at the Tracy Bhavan very early in the morning to set up the blood camp. Snacks, fruits and juices were arranged for the blood donors. In a hall, adjacent to the camp, satsang program (spiritual congregation) was conducted with screening of the message to mankind by the head of the Sant Nirankari Mission, Her Holiness Mata Savinder Hardev Singh. She reinforced the importance of human unity. This message of human unity was not just listened to but was being lived by the people who participated in the blood donation camp. After the congregation langar (community lunch) was served.
I got a chance to speak to a few blood donors. Steph, a local resident of Tracy, expressed his joy as a participant and promised to visit again for such blood drive next year. Many youths donated blood for the first time and felt deep satisfaction by supporting this noble cause. Overall the feeling was the same amongst the blood donors and everyone seemed very happy by contributing to this noble cause.
Tracy Mayor Robert Rickman attended the event. He expressed his happiness and admired enthusiasm of people, some of them visiting as far as from Reno and Fresno. His support was greatly appreciated by SNM.
Prafull Lande
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