



On April 24, 2011, Human Unity Day was celebrated in
Chicago with much enthusiasm as always. Various saints spoke
their personal experiences with Baba Gurbachan Singh Ji
Maharaj. Many spoke of the social reforms that he made such
as simple marriages, no dowry, and no drinking. Some saints
spoke of how he promoted the Truth into the whole world.
A Blood Donation Drive was also organized on the same day
at Carpentersville Bhawan.
The Drive was scheduled from 10am to 2:30 pm with the Red
Cross Service. 37 saints registered for donating blood.
Additionally few individuals from neighboring cities registered
Online. Nineteen units of blood were donated. Four saints had to
be declined due to reasons such as low iron level, etc.
Due to short staffing, Red Cross was not able to serve all
the saints who registered to donate. Fifteen saints who
registered were not able to donate. Due to such a high number
of saints who were not able to donate, another Blood Drive has
been scheduled with Red Cross, for July 17th, 2011.
As for as the saints' Spirit to Donate blood is concerned,
this year was no different. The same enthusiasm, the same strong
desire to donate persists. Most of the saints stated that they
are fortunate to be blessed with good health and this is one way
to express their gratitude to their Creator and help another
fellow being in need. As a good number of our saints went to
India to attend Samagam and were not able to donate due to the
twelve months restriction; many of them complained that twelve
months is too long a period and one saint even said that it was
unfair. One saint was very excited that she finally could donate
blood this time as she did not go to India to attend Samagam
this year.
It was most inspiring to see that two of our young saints who
turned 16 this year to be so enthusiastic to be able to donate
blood (with parental permission), and the parents were equally
enthusiastic.
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