To encourage more people to donate blood, Taiwan’s blood banks are getting creative with persuasive gifts for every volunteer.
As this year’s nine-day Lunar New Year holidays come to an end, Taiwan’s blood bank supplies are dangerously low. To encourage more people to roll up their sleeves, a temple in Xiluo County, Yunlin is offering a lobster worth NT$1,000 (approximately US$30) for each 250cc bag of blood donated, as well as 12 other gifts including cabbages, noodles, savory pastries, and more.
Beginning early in the morning, volunteers formed a long queue at the donation vehicle. Some people donated 500cc at once, earning so many rewards they had difficulty carrying them home.
Temple Director Lin Sheng-hsiung (林勝雄) says that a total of 400 lobsters were donated by kind-hearted people, which encouraged volunteers to give a total of 100,000ccs of blood. In fact all the gifts, including roughly a thousand kilograms of cabbage, were donated by those hoping to inspire donations of a different kind.
Considering the gifts on offer, volunteers are certainly not giving blood in vein. This temple’s idea is the right type of positive activity that, as the Lunar New Year festivities come to a close, will definitely help those in need.