After attending the Four-in-One Cadre Training held in Taiwan June this year, Tzu Chi volunteers of the Southwest district have been pondering over the call by Master Cheng Yen to volunteers worldwide to spread love and kindness in everyone’s own community. The good news came one month later in July from the Singapore Red Cross.

Public donating bloods under the soft melody of Tzu Chi songs at the spacious donation area at JMC.

Volunteers introduce Tzu Chi to the public at the reception area.

Tzu Chi volunteers inviting the public to join the blood drive under the hot weather.

The first donor of the day, Mr. Chen (and his wife) arrived at JMC early in the morning. Mr. Tan said that since they are staying nearby, they are happy to support Tzu Chi as they are comfortable with how the organization carries out its works.

3 bakers, who work in the Bread Talk outlet at the nearby shopping centre, came for the drive during their lunch break.

Mr. Lim, who is at JMC for maintenance work, participates in the drive too. He is happy that he is able to donate blood to save life without affecting his work.

Ms Ivy Lim, Operations Manager of JMC, was impressed by the professionalism, team work, efficiency and sense of responsibility of Tzu Chi volunteers.

Brother Chen, main coordinator of the event, assisting a public member in filling up the donation form.

After attending the Four-in-One Cadre Training held in Taiwan June this year, Tzu Chi volunteers of the Southwest district have been pondering over the call by Master Cheng Yen to spread love and kindness in everyone’s own community. Then in July came the good news for these volunteers who are staying far from the Singapore branch office as compared to volunteers of other areas.

Jurong Medical Centre (JMC), located just in the neighborhood at Jurong West Central 3, is a “new-concept healthcare hub that brings specialist care into the heart of the community”. The centre offers outpatient specialist services, diagnostic and day surgery services, chronic disease management, as well as health screening and promotion programmes.

The Centre’s management has been thinking of launching blood donation campaign since its inception last December but was not able to due to the lack of manpower. The Singapore Red Cross, who has been a long-time partner with Tzu Chi Foundation since 2004, thus introduced our organization to the Centre.

That was the reason why Tzu Chi Foundation got acquainted with JMC to organize its first blood donation drive on this day at 1 September 2007. The Foundation is also holding its third drive of the year at its own Chapter House at Pasir Ris on the same day.

The preparation work kicked off a month prior the event with volunteers of the Southwest district began spreading words in the neighborhood through door to door visitation. Altogether they visited 6,227 families from 58 blocks of residents in Jurong West during weekdays’ evening and weekends.

A “neighborhood donor centre” for the people

“Wow! What a spacious and comfortable environment!” exclaimed the Tzu Chi volunteers when they stepped into the medical centre in the morning of September 1.

The registration counter, examination booth, waiting and donation areas are housed on the first level of the Centre while the conference room located at the second level is the refreshment area for the volunteers. Tables and chairs are placed at a spacious area specially allocated by JMC for donors to enjoy refreshment and rest.  Introductory videos on Tzu Chi Foundation and missionary posters are played and placed at this area to bring Tzu Chi closer to the donors.

Under the soft melody of Tzu Chi’s songs, the first donors, Mr. Chen Zhi Xin and his wife arrive at JMC after taking a 15 minutes walk from their home at Block 652A. The couple used to donate blood at the Tzu Chi branch office at Chinatown regularly but stopped donating with the Foundation after its relocation to Pasir Ris.

“Now that you are here and we are staying just around the corner, we must not miss this opportunity.” says Mr. Chen. He is also in full praise of Tzu Chi’s philanthropy works and the volunteering spirit of its members. “We feel secure and comfortable donating through the campaign ran by Tzu Chi.” Mr. Chen says with a smile.

Twenty-year-old Medina, dressed in traditional Muslim attire, lives nearby. She has donated blood since she was 18 and this is the ninth donation for her. A student at a technical college, she also volunteers at a mosque, taking care of little children. With bright, dancing eyes, the kind-hearted young lady says, "Allah gave me a healthy body, so I must do whatever I can to help others."

However, Medina’s kind act was not supported by her father. He worries that blood donation may harm Medina’s health since she has a petite figure. Despite her father’s worry and disapproval, Medina continues to donate with full support from the rest of her family. She is determined to correct her father’s misconception and gain his support. Medina hopes that her mother, who has tried to donate blood in the past but failed, would be able to participate in future drives.

Overall, door to door visitation and banners promoting the blood drive had played a vital role in recruiting most of the donors for the day. Some join the drive through invitation by volunteers bustling near the MRT train station and the community library.

At around noon time, three men wearing chef suit came by the centre. They are the Bread Talk bakers working at the outlet at a nearby shopping centre. Making use of their lunch break to come for the donation drive, one of them, Xian Zhang Jing, even shares with the volunteers the excitement expecting his first baby. He mentioned that he will be rushing back to Perak, Malaysia the same day evening to wait with his wife for the delivery. What a wonderful experience for this young man doing charity and expecting new life the same day!

Mr. Lin Chang Yao, who was coincidentally at JMC doing electricity maintenance, joins the drive too. Mr. Lin used to donate blood back in his school days but did not persist despite his wish due to work constraint. He is happy to participate in the drive since he could help save life by taking only a little time off without affecting his work schedule.

Together bringing out the love in the community

JMC’s Operations Manager Ms Ivy Lim expresses that she actually gained confidence of joining hands with Tzu Chi Foundation with the assurance from Mr. Liak Teng Lit (CEO of Alexandra Hospital) citing that the organization has a strong cadre of volunteers.

Ivy was impressed by the team work, efficiency and sense of responsibility portrayed by Tzu Chi volunteers, in particular when she witnessed the volunteers rushing to the centre after work to set up the event hall. Such process merely took two hours to complete.

Today, every corner of the centre is filled with bountiful warmth and courteous volunteers readily to serve the donors. She is especially touched by the presence of two elderly volunteers - Sister Chen Chun Rong and Lee Xiu Li - both at their 70s, helping at the site.

The blood donation drive ends around 5pm with the record of 183 bags of blood. The main coordinator, Brother Chen Wen Zhong is happy with the result. Brother Chen remarked that volunteers had contributed wholeheartedly to the drive starting from the preparation, “Spreading the Seeds of Love” exercise to the setting up of the event hall. He also noted marked personal growth in the volunteers. He believes that the “love seeds” planted by the volunteers through door to door visitation would encourage more residents to lend their helping hands in the future. He hopes the drive scheduled in three months later would be another success for the community volunteers.

Mr. Darrick Toh from the Singapore Red Cross indicated that Bloodbank@HSA consumes 350 bags of bloods daily, in particular the Type O and Type A plasma. In Singapore, approximately 55% of the population can donate blood, but only 1% of the population are donors. The blood bank generally needs to maintain a healthy blood supply that would suffice for five to six days. Apparently, responses from the public don’t quite match with the demand as the current blood supply level has dropped to some three days, which calls for an alert to be raised.

We believe that local Singaporeans would put their kindness into action as we raise the awareness. Together we’ll do our best for the next blood drive to come!

Note
1) Tzu Chi Singapore’s regular Blood Donation Drive is held on a tri-monthly basis, specifically on the first Saturday of March, June, September and December. Please check with the branch office or refer to the Event List for exact dates.

2) “Spreading the Seeds of Love”:

The Sept 11, 2001 terrorist attack in the United States was a catastrophe to mankind that shocked the world. Alarmed and distressed by the tragedy, Master Cheng Yen initiated the long term “Spread the Seeds of Love” movement on Oct 13, 2001, emphasizing that “All of us should learn important lessons from the global disasters and be regretful about them. Everyone can merge the power of love to create a peaceful world.”

If each person, on a daily basis, speaks a good word, practices a good deed, and fosters a good thought, by end of each month, it will add up to thirty good thoughts and good deeds. This is the best blessing for oneself and for the world.

The present “Spreading the Seeds of Love” exercise involves spreading goodwill and information on charity events among the people. We sincerely invite everyone to join us and participate in this movement.