In the spirit of giving, dozens of local Orange County residents and Shincheonji Church members have spent their Christmas Eve rolling up their sleeves to donate blood as well as gift toys for local children’s hospitals.
The blood drive taking place at Shincheonji Church comes at a vitally needed time as blood banks around the country face drastic shortages and significantly diminished counts of donors, many of whom have opted out in fear over the coronavirus pandemic.
What stands out about this particular drive is the fact that its become the longest active blood drive in Orange County. Starting on November 25, Anaheim residents and members of Shincheonji in LA made a pledge to donate 1,000 units of blood to the American Red Cross. and 50 to 100 residents at a time.
“Come rain or shine, we’re going to be continuing this blood drive every month here at the church,” Cathy Vu, a local member of Shincheonji Church said. “We won’t stop until we’ve donated 1,000 pints, something we hope to have accomplished within the months to come.”
The blood donations will go to those most in need at local children’s hospitals along with dozens of gifts, as each donor took upon the challenge to bring one or more wrapped toys to send to them.
“There’s just too many people in need right now, especially the little ones at the local children’s hospitals- it’s hard enough to be in a hospital during the holidays, let alone during a pandemic,” said local blood donor, John Scherer. “So we just hope this blood gives them the health they need and that these presents can help put a smile on their faces.”
The next portion of Shincheonji Church’s ongoing blood drive will take place toward the end of January. Coupling this work, Shincheonji Church members in South Korea are working to donate an ongoing pledge of 4,000 individual blood plasma donations to Green Cross Pharma, to help treat COVID-19 infected citizens.
Shincheonji Church, located within the city of Anaheim, is a bible based Christian Church and community that strives to serve as Christ did and be a shining light to the world around them through acts of love and community service.