President's Word

In May 2006, the Grandfather of a good friend of mine suffered from a severe heart condition and was in need of five units of AB– blood, the rarest blood type in Lebanon and the world. The patient's family searched everywhere for possible donors, among friends, family, at the Red Cross and hospitals without any luck.

At that time, I had already gathered a few friends that I knew from school and scouts, and together we organized a small network of people who are willing to donate blood to people in need. However, only two people in the group were AB– and their donation were not enough to save the life of the patient who passed away because of shortage of blood.

After that incident, which I believe could have been easily avoided, I realized that there was a crucial issue that was being neglected in our country, and I couldn't believe that people were still dying of blood shortage in the 21st century!

Who among us has never needed a blood transfusion for someone he loves?
Unfortunately, it will happen to all of us! Let us be prepared for that day!

And so this is why I started recruiting donors among friends, family, with the huge help of Facebook, and the number rapidly grew from some 40 names to more than 3000 by the end of 2008.You cannot imagine the number of people who were willing to devote time and energy to support this cause without expecting anything in return! And it's with their help that we were able to hold stands in most universities in order to recruit more donors and more volunteers.

Donner Sang Compter hence became a non-governmental, non-profitable organization, officially registered in the Ministry of Interior and Municipalities on May 31st 2010. It was first launched as a stand-alone project in 2006, when I realized the challenges that existed with regards to blood donation:

• The absence of a developed centralized blood bank in Lebanon that could cover the needs of the Lebanese citizens and overcome lack of coordination between hospital blood banks regarding donor's information and donation requirements and restrictions.
• The lack of awareness about blood donation with regards to the simplicity of the process as well as the magnitude of its outcome (fear of donation, saving for relatives, unguaranteed use or misuse of donated blood…)
• The restrained and limited number of known healthy available donors (especially for the rare blood types)

Voluntarism is at the heart of Donner Sang Compter… Everyone is a volunteer, from the person donating blood, to the person in charge of the stand, to the whole team behind this organization.

In January 2009, I applied for an award, the King Abdullah II award for Youth Innovation and Achievement (KAAYIA). To my surprise I was selected among the 10 finalists of the competition among 2000 Participants from 19 Arab countries. We were all generously rewarded with a prize of 50,000$ to boost and develop our projects to higher level.

Today, the organization that most of you have come to know as "Donner Sang Compter" which means to give blood without expecting anything in return, is the link between potential donors and people in need. Our Database holds more than 10,000 donors, fulfilling more than 450 blood demands per month, gathering more than 100 volunteers spread out in all Lebanese territories and with 3 full-time staff fully dedicated to our cause.

Personally, I have always believed that with passion, courage and determination one can make anything happen. This is the message that I would like to "transfuse" to you. Find your passion, something you're good at, something you love, and if you put your mind to it, no one and nothing will be able to stand in your way. Age, financial situation, political and religious affiliations none of these are obstacles in front of dedication, perseverance and most importantly compassion.

In my opinion, the greatest proof of responsible citizenship is to serve someone you don't know.

It is time that us youth, come together and support each other to better serve our community. Therefore, I encourage you to volunteer and commit in any possible way, working for any cause that interest you, social work, environmental work, human rights… anything…anything you think will help you grow as a person and help your community as well!

Now is the time to volunteer, we're still students with valuable free time, let's use it wisely.

I will leave you with our Moto at Donner Sang Compter, where we say: "I give life…It's in my Blood!"