A local youth group is doing their part to give the gift of life.
The Simcoe regional branch of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association (AMYA) organized a blood drive at Holy Martyrs of Japan Church in Bradford, where their members donated 15 units (or about 6.75 litres) of blood to Canadian Blood Services (CBS) on Jan. 15.
That comes as part of the AMYA’s ongoing efforts to support communities under the banner of Mercy 4 Mankind, and Salman Ahmad, AMYA’s serving regional president for Simcoe, called blood drives one of the best options.
“You never know when someone is in need, so we always try to donate as much as we can, and also encourage others,” he said.
While CBS explains there are many reasons to give blood, they note one of the most important is that it saves lives, adding that every day, there are people who need blood transfusions to survive a variety of medical conditions, including anemia, cancer and injuries.
According to their 2023-24 annual report, Canadians rely on about 15,000 units of blood for transfusions every year.
Knowing their efforts could help save lives, Ahmad said it “feels amazing,” and the group encourages members to get engaged in helping communities from a young age.
“Saving someone’s life is the best thing that you can do,” he said. “I just feel so proud that our youth come forward for these activities and they’re always willing to donate their blood.”
After hitting their goal of donating 50 units of blood last year, Ahmad said they’re hoping to do the same or maybe even better this year.
The organization’s Simcoe region branch is relatively new, and was officially established about two years ago after being divided from the Northern Ontario branch, but Ahmad estimated members from the area have been participating in the annual blood drives for roughly 10 years.
“We encourage everyone to donate their blood wherever they can, whenever they can,” he said.
The local group is hoping to hold their next blood drive in Newmarket, but the date has yet to be determined.
AMYA is an auxiliary organization of Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama’at (AMJ) Canada, a non-profit charity organization headquartered in Vaughan, and its youth members are active in numerous projects across Canada including blood drives, city and park cleanups, adopt a road programs, food drives, fundraising activities for Africa, planting and career counselling programs. For more information, visit mercy4mankind.ca.
Established in 1998, CBS is an independent registered charity that receives most of its financial support from the governments of all provinces and territories except Quebec. Regulated by Health Canada, they are responsible for operating the national blood and plasma supply system, as well as the national public cord blood bank. For more information visit blood.ca.
