SEOUL — Shincheonji Church of Jesus, Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony, a Korean-based church led by Chairman Man-hee Lee was awarded a commendation from the President of the Korean Red Cross for taking the lead in the life-sharing movement of blood donations for ‘2022 Blood Donor Day’ on June 14th.

Hosted by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and organized by the Korean Red Cross, this event was held to promote the importance of blood donation and to show respect and appreciation to blood donors. In particular, this blood donor day is the first event designated as a national anniversary since the revision of the Blood Management Act last December.

 ‘World Blood Donor Day’ is organized by the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Federation of Red Cross Society (IFRC), the International Society for Transfusion (ISBT), and the International Federation of Blood Donor Organizations (FIODS) to express gratitude to blood donors around the world. It is an international anniversary jointly established in 2004 by four international organizations.

The event held at the Seoul Office of the Korean Red Cross was attended by Lee Ki-il, 2nd Vice Minister of Health and Welfare, Lim Young-ae, Blood Management Chairman, Korean Red Cross Chairman and vice-chairman Shin Hee-young and Jang Ye-soon, Secretary-General Sang-cheon Lee, and Cho Nam-sun, the Head of Blood Management Headquarters. It was held as a socially-distanced event at the bus event site.

18,819 Shincheonji Church of Jesus members completed blood donations for a total of 18 days from April 18 to May 4, helping to solve the blood supply shortage due to the spread of the COVID-19 Omicron variant. According to the Blood Management Headquarters of the Korean Red Cross, 18,000 blood donations are equivalent to 3.5 days of blood supply. A total of 32,324 blood donations were donated to the Korean Red Cross by collecting blood donations from the saints.

Lee Ki-il, 2nd Vice Minister of Health and Welfare, said, “I would like to thank everyone who participated even in a difficult blood supply situation.”

Shin Hee-young, president of the Korean Red Cross, also said, “I express my gratitude for the noble spirit of the 2.6 million blood donors in Korea.”

The World Blood Donor Day commemorative event included giving awards for the blood donation contests and those who carried out blood donation drives and projects. Shincheonji Church of Jesus was awarded the Korean Red Cross President’s Commendation for “actively participating in the Red Cross humanitarian movement and contributing greatly to the development of the blood business for the protection of private life.”

An official from Shincheonji Church of Jesus said, “As blood cannot be artificially manufactured, blood donation is the only way to save a patient’s life. The value of life-sharing of the members and the precious heart to overcome the national crisis came together to create a miracle. Shincheonji Church of Jesus will not stop practicing the love and service of Jesus.”

In the early days of COVID-19, when there was no vaccine or treatment in 2020, Shincheonji Church of Jesus, at the request of the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, participated in the donation of plasma for a total of 6,000 people over three times to develop a treatment for COVID-19.