Considering the shortage of blood in summers, the brother-sister duo of Mahesh Bangad and Snehal Bangad undertook an ambitious campaign of travelling across Maharashtra to raise awareness on blood donation. The awareness drive organized by Raktache Nate included blood donation camps, interacting with blood banks, social workers, volunteers and people at large. Mission Bloodline Maharashtra was organized from 1st to 10th May across 20 cities of Maharashtra. The campaign was inspired from the work of their father Mr. Ram Bangad, Founder Trustee of Raktache Nate Trust. The campaign was flagged off from Pune in presence of Pune Loksabha candidate Shri. Mohan Joshi.
Snehal and Mahesh informed that the blood donation awareness drive was held across 20 cities including Solapur, Latur, Nanded, Yavatmal, Nagpur, Akola, Amravati, Jalgaon, Aurangabad, Jalna, Shirdi, Ahmednagar, Nashik, Navi Mumbai, Satara, Karad, Ichalkaranji, Kolhapur and Pune. The basic idea was to create awareness and talk to various stakeholders on how the blood donation revolution could be taken forward. A total of 411 blood bags were collected during this campaign.
Raktache Nate Charitable Trust has been working in the field of voluntary blood donation since last 25 years. Till date, Mr. Ram Bangad has donated his blood a record 128 times, Mahesh Bangad has donated 32 times and Snehal Bangad 20 times.
“Through Mission Bloodline Maharashtra, we could contact at least 100 new volunteers and more than 1000 citizens who want to donate blood”, Mahesh and Snehal said. During this campaign, huge blood donation camps were conducted at Satara and Karad, raising awareness and encouraging the cause.
Snehal, who donated blood in Jalgaon camp, said, “After I donated blood, 6 women voluntarily came forward to donate blood. We’re glad we were able to raise awareness amongst people, especially women.”
Mahesh Bangad said, ” After the successful completion of Mission Bloodline Maharashtra, we are now creating a WhatsApp group of hundreds of self-motivated volunteers linked through this campaign. Together we can encourage more voluntary blood donors and in the coming times make the country blood-sufficient.”
