GCCRBC Holds 3rd Annual Blood Drive at SNC

By Jawahar Malhotra

HOUSTON: One pitch encouraging people to give blood is “a single donation can save up to three lives” and for most people it rings true enough to make their way to the Blood Center van. Two Sundays ago, on November 11 – which coincidentally was the 100th commemoration of the end of World War I – the pitch rang true for members of the congregation of the Sikh National Center.

The 20-acre SNC site has been the focus of most of the Sikh community’s efforts for the past 16 years as a master-planned center that would house a Gurdwara as well as a boarding school, auditorium, museum, library, pavilion and residence for priests. Purchase of the site and the phased construction of the main temple building has been funded by countless donation drives.

But now the end seems to be in sight as Gurdwara elders envision holding a huge celebration of Guru Nanak’s 550th Birth Anniversary in 2019 in the new worship sanctuary. Other buildings will be built in the future.

The 3rd Annual Blood Drive by the SNC was held in the memory of Guru Nanak, whose birth anniversary is on November 23. Gurpurab celebrations will be held on Sunday, November 25. The collection van from the Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center pulled up beside the basketball pavilion and the interim gurdwara which has been the focal point of Sunday prayer meetings for the past ten years.

Out of 15 people who attempted donation, 10 people donated. Jatinder S. Khehra and Kirandeep Khehra, Sukhjeet Singh Brar, Ranjit Singh Padda, Inderpal Singh, Harpreet S. Thabbal were among those who donated.

Blood collections are performed by the Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center (www.giveblood.org) which encourages the donations in order to replenish the Houston Blood Bank that services area hospitals. To meet the needs of the area community, The Blood Center must collect about 800 donations every day and so it encourages individuals to Commit for Life, to give blood.