Sikh Nation Sudbury encourages people to donate plasma

Members of Sikh Nation in Sudbury want people to sign up to donate plasma on Saturday.

Sikh Nation is a national group that has partnered with Canadian Blood Services to hold donation events. In Sudbury, the group is hoping to fill 20 open appointments.

Karan Badhesha is a member of Sikh Nation Sudbury. He joined after arriving in the city as an international student.

He said as a regular donor, he wanted to find a way to encourage others to donate. He learned about Sikh Nation and decided to start up a group in Sudbury.

"Anybody can join from any religion, anything, there's no restrictions," he said.

"They can come in [and donate under] that group. I tried that approach a couple of months ago and it actually worked."

During the last donation drive in Sudbury, Badhesha says 30 people signed up to donate under Sikh Nation.

"That was surprising," he said. "I had my own personal links [but] lots of local people showed up for the cause. Even after the following week, there were a couple people who went there and donated their plasma under the same [cause]."

Badhesha said the main reason to donate is to save lives and help those who need donations. But he said organizers are also thinking about the farmer protests in India as well as residential school survivors and those who didn't make it home.

 "So we stand in solidarity with all the human lives, innocent lives lost, all over the world, anywhere there is an injustice."

According to Canadian Blood Services, Sikh Nation donors across Canada make 60 per cent of their donations each November, adding many are regular donors.