For the third year in a row, Slovenian Rotaractor Nina Kolenc is spearheading a blood donor campaign within Rotary's youth organization, focusing on the special Rotaract Week in March, which this year is coinciding with the 40th anniversary of Rotaract. By late February, Rotaractors in at least 18 countries had announced their interest in joining the drive. Click here to view video about Rotaract and blood donation.
By late February, Nina Kolenc had received notice of confirmed participation from Rotaract Clubs in Austria, Brasil, Canada, Croatia, Egypt, Hungary, India, Mauritius, Mexico, Nepal, New Zealand, the Philippines, Samoa, Serbia, Slovenia, Tanzania, Turkey and the USA.
In May of 2007, figures indicated that her second Rotaract-inspired blood donor drive had more than 900 participants in 14 countries - Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Brazil, Croatia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Hungary, Mongolia, Nepal, Slovenia, Tanzania, Turkey, Ukraine, Uruguay - with 51 clubs involved. This was up from 19 clubs in six countries in 2006, when around 250 individuals answered the Rotaract call to become voluntary blood donors.
In addition, some Rotary Clubs and Inner Wheel Clubs took part in the Rotarac-inspired blood donor drive.
Global Network for Blood Donation, a Rotarian Action Group "fully endorses" the Rotaract blood drive, the network's president, PDG Chuck Kurtzman, has stated in a mail to Nina Kolenc. In addition, the Rotarian Action Group invites Rotaractors around the world to become members of GNBD.
On the website http://www.rotaract-celje.org/bloodunite.htm , Nina is encouraging members of Rotaract Clubs, Interact, Rotary and Inner Wheel around the world to participate in voluntary blood donation.
"Don't worry, if you just get a few donors. What matters is that we start the project and spread the idea among members of the Rotary Family," she explains to her fellow Rotaractors.
Nina thanks "Slovenian Rotary family members and others" who have supported her blood donor project and helped in implementing it.
She has named the blood donor project after a quote "Magna est vis humanitatis" (Magnificent is the power of humanity) from the Roman writer and politician Marcus Tullius Cicero.
Responding to the call, Rotaractor Mary Kathryn DeLodder, President of Rotaract Club of Greater Louisville, District 6710, Kentucky, USA wrote to other Rotaractors in early February about the Magna Est Vis Humanitatis-project that she thinks it "is a very good idea", but - as she later told www.ourblooddrive.org - "we already have several projects planned for March in honor of World Rotaract Week. However, I definitely will encourage all my club members to participate by donating blood, even if we do not organize a drive ourselves. We may even plan to go all together to donate blood."
Rotaractor Mahesh Bajracharya, President of Rotaract Club of Patan, District 3290, Nepal, said in her response: "It was our great pleasure to support this project Magna Est Vis Humanitatis for the last two years and we wish to inform you that we will be joining hands this year too. We have already planned blood donation program during the World Rotaract Week celebration and we hope to get more participants this year than previous years. In order to achieve this, we will be promoting this program to other Rotaract Clubs of Nepal as well."
Rotaractor Marina Stanojevic, Past President of Rotaract Club Rijeka and RCO of Croatia 2007-08, added: "Inspired by a supportive message from faraway Nepal, I too, as Croatian Rotaract coordinator, would like to show support and encourage Rotaract Clubs world-wide to join in this heartwarming, but yet such a simple project. Several of our clubs have participated in the project previous years, but in 2008 we hope for all Croatian clubs to join. By organizing blood drives across Croatia we also wish to celebrate Rotaract's 40th birthday."
Every year, a World Rotaract Week is designated to honor the chartering of the first Rotaract club, March 13 1968. To that end, Rotaract Clubs around the world put on various activities and compete for Best Service Project.
It was announced in early 2007, that three Slovenian Rotaract Clubs, Maribor, Ljubljana, Celje, and one Hungarian club, Szeged, won the second place among the European contestants of 2006 for their joint blood donation-project.
Nina Kolenc has since 2000 been a member of Rotaract Club Maribor, Multi-district 1910. She was a member of Multi-district 1910/1920 Board as its Regional Coordinator (RCO) for Slovenia in 2005-06. During Rotary year 2007-08, she serves as District Rotaract Representative (DRR) for District 1910 (Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia). She is a charter member of the Global Network for Blood donation and its Committee Chair-liaison to Rotaract.
Go to Photo Journal to see pictures from the Rotaract blood donor drive 2007.
Click here to go to Rotary International special web site Celebrate World Rotaract Week.
Read more about Rotaract, click here.
Nina Kolenc can be contacted at bloodunites@gmail.com
Editor's footnote : Interviewed by Rotary International News, March 20 2006, Nina Kolenc was asked how she got the idea for the blood donor project: - It stemmed from a personal experience. Five years ago when I was just 21, my heart stopped suddenly due to heart fibrillation, and I was declared clinically dead. I recovered but have not forgotten that life is short and that humans are mortal.
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