June 19th is World Sickle Cell Awareness Day. June 19th is also the day we celebrate Juneteenth, an especially meaningful holiday for Black Americans. It’s a day to celebrate and rejoice in blackness, in our history, in our strength, in our joy, in our pride, and in our love for one another. There is a shortage of black and brown blood donors and I think, speaking from my own journey to becoming a donor, that many people don’t donate simply because they lack awareness. Awareness of the specific extremes suffered by Sickle Cell patients, awareness about exactly WHY receiving blood from someone with genetics as close to your own as possible, can literally be the difference between life and death, awareness of the statistics of Sickle Cell, the extremely high percentage of sufferers being of African descent….etc. Sickle Cell patients are part of our community. We need to all take care of each other, especially on the day that honors the strength of Black people, our resilience is our legacy. By donating blood, we are strengthening the resilience of not only Sickle Cell Patients, but the resilience of the Black Community as a whole. Let’s look out for each other in unity and truly honor the spirit of Juneteenth! This 2021 blood donor campaign will remain active through the end of September, which is National Sickle Cell Awareness Month. My goal this year is the recruitment of TEN first-time blood donors by Sickle Cell Awareness Month, September 2022! 💪🏽We are our brother’s keeper.❤️
https://www.redcross.org/about-us/news-and-events/press-release/2021/red-cross-launches-national-initiative-to-reach-more-blood-donors-to-help-patients-with-sickle-cell-disease.html
Challenge your friends (or anyone for that matter) to a friendly competition! Who will win the battle to do the most social good for your community?
Put your virtual blood drive campaign against one or even multiple other campaigns to see who can recruit more blood donors for the American Red Cross.
