Bogota: blood drive marathon increases volunteers
The Global Embassy of Activists for Peace (GEAP) in Colombia carried out an impressive drive under the framework of the 8th International Marathon “Life is in the Blood”, event which counted with the support of nine blood banks of the District Network of Bogota.
The coordinator in charge of the District Network of blood banks, Claudia Ardila, and her team, and the national coordinator of the GEAP, Ivan Sarmiento, were present in this campaign.
The promotion activities were developed with the purpose of contributing with the formation of a culture of voluntary, altruist and regular safe blood donation, to increase the active and effective participation of the citizens, in order to guarantee the stock of blood and blood components to all of those who need it.
12 points of promotion
The volunteers of the GEAP were located in 12 points throughout the city and offered theater plays, music, face-painting for the kids, costumes, and crafts to the families present.
Shopping centers and parks were the spaces that allowed the people to express the value of solidarity and kindness to their fellow men by voluntarily donating the sap of life.
Musicians and athletes join the marathon
The Orchestra of the GEAP in Colombia interpreted several musical pieces representative of the country and others related to the blood donation, in the frequency of peace (432Hz), with the intention of inviting the citizens of Bogota to support this altruistic act.
These 64 musicians and singers enhanced the marathon that was developed with the Hemolife Bank in the Shopping Center Centro Mayor.
On the other hand, at the Timiza Park on the south of the country the Pan American champions of skating in the juvenile category, joined the marathon that was carried out with the support of the blood bank Fundacion Kalai.
The athletes carried out a recreational routine which showed the assistants that maintaining a healthy lifestyle is indispensable, and also that to be a blood donor good health is required.
Mailen Ceballos (28 years old), a voluntary donor, said that her daughters have needed this liquid and that she has decided to give back a small portion of what daughters have received.
Adding volunteers
The marathon counted with the support of the following blood banks in the city:
• Colsanitas, Clinica San Rafael, Fundacion Cardioinfantil,
• Fundacion Kalai, Hospital la Misericordia, Hospital Infantil Universitario San Jose,
• Hospital San Jose, Fundacion Hemolife e Instituto Nacional de Cancerologia.
The result covered the expectations of the blood banks that participated in the marathon, which added anonymous heroes to society.
The solidary activity ended with success promoting the principle of love and the universal values of the human family, so that blood donation can become a voluntary, solidary, civic, altruist, responsible and regular act.
