On its 70th year, Red Cross raises P37.79M at fund campaign kickoff

The Philippine Red Cross headquarters on EDSA near the Guadalupe Bridge in Mandaluyong. (Photo from the PRC Facebooko page)

The Philippine Red Cross (PRC), which marked its 70th anniversary last Saturday (April 15), received on Wednesday a total of P37.79 million in donations and pledges from various companies and organizations.

This year’s celebration, which will last for a month, is themed “70 taon: Kusang Loob, Malasakit at Kapwa Tao.”

At Wednesday’s Fund and Membership Campaign Kickoff held at the PRC headquarters on EDSA in Mandaluyong, Chairman Richard Gordon said the donors’ money would be well-spent.

Part of the donations, he said, could help fund the costs of running the MV Susitna, a recently purchased humanitarian ship. The fuel cost for the ship to complete a relief and rescue mission could reach up to P 2.4 million.

The ship, which will be renamed, will be launched on May 8 at an event to be attended by President Rodrigo Duterte.

“All actions we do depends on the resources we generate,” he said. “We talked about the most vulnerable. We give hand to mouth help , so there will be less vulnerability.”

Also in line with its monthlong 70th anniversary, the PRC will stage its fourth annual Million Volunteer Run on May 13.

Addressing employees and volunteers, Gordon gave this reminder: “We at Red Cross are not ordinary. We are called to be extraordinary.”

The timid and shy, he said, would not have a place at the Red Cross.

Of the P37.79 million raised on Wednesday, P803,000 was in cash and P4.124 million was in pledges. There were also blood pledges worth P8.72 million. The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, through its General Manager Alexander Balutan, pledged P25 million for PRC’s blood bank program. Jollibee also gave P30,000 worth of gift certificates, and Cathay Airlines gave away two tickets.

Among the other donors were Victory Liner, which donated P5 million; PhilConstruct Inc.. which lent construction materials and equipment; Golden Pizza, Brodfield Engineering, Security Bank Foundation which donates an ambulance yearly.

Pilipinas Kaneko also signed a memorandum of agreement that it will donate P500,000 every September and March, Gordon said.

ROHM Electronics Philippines Inc. donated P67,000 that it earned from its company fun run.

Also giving pledges were the Serodiagnostics (P500,000); Falcitech Trading (P1 million), Wilcon Builders (P1 million), Terumo Philippines (P100,000), Lifelight Diagnostic Supplies (P100,000), and Abbott Diagnostic Transfusion Medicine (P7.520 million).

The members of the PRC board of directors also pledged to donate P200,000 each.

The PRC was inaugurated on April 15, 1947. It was then called Philippine National Red Cross. The name was changed to its current Philippine Red Cross in 2009.

The PRC now has 103 chapters and over two million volunteers, supported by hundreds of emergency vehicles and rescue equipment, warehouses and blood centers strategically located nationwide.

According to its website, the PRC offers the following major services:

• National Blood Services
• Disaster Management Services
• Safety Services
• Health Services
• Social Services
• Red Cross Youth
• International Humanitarian Law

/atm