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Solidarity torch relay of volunteer blood donors starts in Greece
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THE flame of the annual 12th torch relay of volunteer blood donors was ignited Friday evening in central Athens, next to the Monument of the Unknown Soldier in front of the parliament.
In an effort to spread the volunteer movement, the National Federation of Voluntary Blood Donors has established since 2002 the idea of the PanHellenic Torch Relay of Volunteer Blood Donors. Their goal is to attract, inform and motivate more volunteer blood donors.
“We offer our blood as we want companionship in our life,” President of the National Federation of Voluntary Blood Donors Christos Protopappas told Xinhua.
The torch relay begins in Athens and it travels throughout the country, completing its journey on Oct. 3 in the city of Kozani in northern Greece.
With the motto “The flame passes through our cities”, more than 25,000 volunteers from sports clubs, charity organizations and medical clubs will run the distance and motivate people to follow.
The torch relay will pass for the first time the Greek boundaries and will spread the message of volunteering in Albania, Bulgaria and Turkey.
According to statistics, Greece ranks seventh in volunteer blood donors in Europe, due to large numbers of thalassaemia and sickle cell anemia patients.
From the 600,000 to 630,000 blood units that are required in Greece each year, the 130,000 are going to these groups that need very often transfusion.
As Protopappas explained to Xinhua, it is very important to inform the public for the importance of blood donorship.
“That’s why we have joined our forces with the Ministry of Education to approach young people as they are the future,” he said.
While in 2012, the majority came from the emergency called blood donors like family and friends, in 2013 volunteer blood donors reached 52 percent, blood donors from relatives was 45 percent and 3 percent came from the military.
From September this year Greek authorities will create a national volunteer blood donor registry to record all data electronically.
Protopappas is optimistic that they will have a view of the volunteering map in Greece after the first six months of its operation.
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