The camp took place on August 15, 2011 idea to hold such a camp was conceived by Sarika, Anoop and Dr Partho, who are volunteers of the Art of Living in Kolkata. It took place in collaboration with People’s Blood Bank and M.P. Birla Eye Bank.
The team says that not too much effort went into this and publicity was small scale. The information had been spread mainly by word of mouth. Majority of this team consisted of young and enthusiastic volunteers of YES!+. They were not only responsible, but also had innovative ideas regarding distribution and execution of work.
The whole environment was unlike the usual camps of this sort. The atmosphere was very lively, with bhajans being played in the background and everybody was cheerful.
The turnout of blood donors was very high but 72 qualified to donate. The beds were not vacant for even a minute. The crowd was naturally regulated and no chaos, the camp went off smoothly. The donors were very happy with the arrangement and offered to come back again. The volunteers intend to make this a regular affair and hold such a camp every six months, with increased participation each time. The venue for this was the clinic of Dr Vinod and Dr Anjula Vinakia, who have willingly offered it for future camps.
For those 5 hours, everybody was on their toes to get things done. The doctors were extremely charged up and wanted to do everything themselves. The health officer was very impressed and said that she had never seen such a well-organized camp.
Apart from this, 71 people pledged their eyes that day, which is a considerably high number owing to the awareness about it. Announcements for the same are still made at satsangs and knowledge sessions so as to encourage people to come forward and pledge their eyes.
This event successfully adhered to the aim of the Punarnabha Bangla wing of the organization by empowering people to take leadership and accelerate social, cultural and economic growth of the region.
