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May 10, 2019

Blood Drive held in Tracy to celebrateHuman Unity Day

PRAFULL LANDE

TRACY, California: On April28, the Northern Californiachapter of the Sant NirankariMission celebrated 'ManavEkta Diwas' in Tracy by hostinga Blood Drive in collaborationwith American Red Cross. Vol-unteers of the Sant NirankariMission worked hard for plan-ning and making arrange-ments for the blood donationcamp. Communication medi-ums such as fliers, newspapers,emails, internet as well as wordof mouth were used to makeeveryone aware of the eventand as it turned out that theeffort was not in vain.

The Sant Nirankari Mission, aspiritual movement workingtowards universal brother-hood, celebrates 'Manav EktaDivas' (Human Unity Day), ev-ery year in the month of Aprilby organizing blood donationcamps and health fairs all overthe world. His Holiness BabaHardev Singh ji's message was"Blood should flow in the veins,not on the street" and "Letthere be peace, not pieces".

The blood donatiopn campreceived an overwhelming re-sponse. Kerry Morris fromAmerican Red Cross appreci-ated the efforts of all the vol-unteers. She mentioned thataround 57 people registeredand 49 units of blood were col-lected. This will potentiallysave around 147 lives. Ameri-can Red Cross was excited tosee the zeal of the donors andthe response that the camp re-ceived. Blood donors camefrom places as far as Reno,

Fresno, San Jose, and Sacra-mento. The bank has promisedto visit again next year.

Representatives from theblood bank as well as the vol-unteers of the Sant NirankariMission (sewadal) gathered at

the Tracy Bhavan very early inthe morning to set up theblood camp. Snacks, fruits andjuices were arranged for the

blood donors. In a hall, adja-cent to the camp, a satsangprogram (spiritual congrega-tion) was conducted with amessage of human unity anduniversal brotherhood. Thismessage of human unity was

not just listened to but beinglived by the people who par-ticipated in the blood donationcamp. After the congregation,

langar (community lunch) wasserved.

I got a chance to speak to afew blood donors. HardevSaini, a resident of San Ramon,expressed his joy as a partici-pant and promised to visit

again for such blooddrive next year. Manyyouths donated blood forthe first time and feltdeep satisfaction by sup-porting this noble cause.Overall, the feeling wasthe same amongst theblood donors and every-one seemed very happyby contributing to thisnoble cause.

The Sant Nirankari Mis-sion today is one of theleading blood donatingvoluntary organizationsin India. Scores of blooddonation camps are or-

ganized in the month of Aprilevery year.

The Sant Nirankari Mission isessentially a spiritual move-

ment. Its principal commit-ment to its followers is to maketheir minds conscious of theEternal Reality and unite theirSoul with the Creator, theFormless God. The Mission be-lieves that ignorance and su-perstition are the biggest ob-stacles in man's path to realprogress and happiness. Thenarrow-mindedness, hatredand pride brooded by themare the most vicious source oftrouble for the mankind.

The Mission endeavors toremove the same by makingspiritual enlightenment withinthe reach of every man andwoman - young or old, rich orpoor, high or low, educated orilliterate, whatever the lan-guage, faith or culture, what-ever the state or the nation.