Canadian Blood Services Celebrates National Volunteer Week 2002
OTTAWA, April 22 /CNW/ - April 21 to 27, 2002 is National Volunteer Week
in North America. Canadian Blood Services (CBS) is honouring the contributions
of its 17,000 volunteers across Canada whose contributions help save lives
every day.
"On behalf of Canadian Blood Services, I would like to extend my most
heartfelt thanks to all those dedicated volunteers for their generosity, time
and tireless effort in helping to save lives," said Dr. Graham Sher, Chief
Executive Officer of Canadian Blood Services. "They act as our ambassadors in
the community organizing clinics and encouraging people to give blood. Our
volunteers contribute approximately 282,000 hours to operations annually and
have helped make Canada's blood supply among the safest and most reliable in
the world. We are very grateful for all their support, yesterday, today and in
the future."
Volunteers play a number of important roles at CBS. They can be found
speaking to organizations to raise awareness of the need for blood and blood
donors, promoting and organizing community clinics, acting as guides
throughout the blood donation process, and serving refreshments after the
donation. These are just some examples of the many important services provided
by volunteers.
"I consider it an honour to volunteer with CBS. I believe strongly in
raising awareness for the need for blood and blood products in my community. I
would hate to see a child or an adult not receive blood or blood products due
to a lack of knowledge on behalf of the general public. The message I want to
convey is that it is so easy to donate blood or volunteer," said Debbie Boyd,
Volunteer Donor Ambassador and a Blood Donor in Edmonton.
Volunteer Canada has selected "Experience Matters" as the theme for this
National Volunteer Week. Older adults have a lifetime of knowledge and skills
to share as they move from the workplace to retirement. For many newly retired
people, volunteering helps make the transition a positive experience.
Volunteering helps create and maintain relationships, use valuable skills,
give back to the communities and mentor others. Younger people are
volunteering to gain experience as they, in turn, transition from school to
the workplace, or from high school to higher education. National Volunteer
Week highlights how many Canadians, whether they're 15 or 55, are turning to
volunteering as a way to gain - and give - the benefits of experience.
Individuals interested in an important and rewarding volunteer experience
are encouraged to contact Canadian Blood Services at 1 888 2 DONATE
(1 888 236-6283) or visit our Web site at www.bloodservices.ca.
Canadian Blood Services is a national, not-for-profit charitable
organization that manages the blood supply in all provinces and territories
outside of Quebec and operates the country's bone marrow donor registry. CBS
operates 43 permanent collection sites, 11 bone marrow donor centres and more
than 10,000 donor clinics annually. For more information, please visit our web
site at www.bloodservices.ca.
To recruit new donors and raise awareness about the ongoing need for
blood, CBS is running the Roll up your Sleeves, Canada! challenge. The goal of
the challenge is to have an additional 160,000 people become regular donors by
the end of the year 2005. This would raise the percentage of eligible
Canadians who regularly give blood from three to about five per cent and would
enable the collection of one million units of blood that CBS estimates it will
need to meet patient needs.
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For further information: Jirina Vlk, Manager, Media Relations, Canadian
Blood Services, (613) 260-6845
(C) 2002 Canada NewsWire
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Copyright 2003 Community Services Council Newfoundland and Labrador
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