Remmevel Gubala, an 18-year-old psychology student, had always wanted to help soldiers and policemen who fight the rebellion and terrorism in Marawi City.
The opportune time came when she saw on Facebook an invitation to participate in a blood-letting campaign for government troops in Marawi. It was a project spearheaded by the National Press Club of the Philippines, the Philippine National Red Cross and the Philippine Army, in partnership with SM Cares and SM City North Edsa in Quezon City.
Remmevel travelled four hours last Friday from her hometown in Tanauan City, Batangas just to donate blood for the government troops in Marawi. In an interview after her blood-letting, Remmevel said she felt good knowing she did something for the people defending the country. Apparently, it was her first time to donate blood.
“I have always wanted to help our soldiers and the policemen fighting in Marawi, but I just did not know how because I have no money to give. So, when I saw that there was this blood donation campaign for them on Facebook, I thought this is the best way to help those who risk their lives for all of us,” she said.
Remmevel was just one of the hundreds of people from all walks of life who participated in the blood-letting initiative held at the SMNE Skydome. It was one noble way of helping the government troops fighting the Maute group in Marawi City.
Jerico Uy, 19 of Montalban, Rizal, and a student at the New Era University, was just at SM North with his friends when they saw the signage at the Skydome about the blood donation activity.
“We thought, why not donate blood for the people whom we consider as heroes? It’s the least we could do for them,” Uy said.
NPC president Paul Gutierrez said the blood donation program is his organization’s way of expressing their support for the troops in Marawi. “This is just a small gesture compared to what they are doing in Marawi and for the rest of the country,” Gutierrez said.
He said while NPC had done blood donation initiatives in the past, the activity in SMNE has been the most successful so far because of the number of attendees.
“We are very grateful to SM and SM Cares for being part of this program and allowing us to use their facility for this event. This way we can reach more people, and more people came. Now, we have more blood to donate to them,” Gutierrez said.
Elena Bautista Horn, SM Vice President of Corporate Affairs, said; “SM has always been proud of our troops especially what they are now doing in Mindanao. We hope that through this project, we can save more lives for the love of our country and their families.”
SM Cares is the CSR arm of SM Prime Holdings Inc. Their advocacies include Programs on Persons with Disabilities, Children and Youth, Women and Breastfeeding Mothers, Environment Sustainability, Senior Citizens, Social Entrepreneurship and Overseas Filipino Workers (SM Global Pinoy).
As a responsible integrated property developer, SM Prime ensures that its CSR programs serve as a catalyst for positive change for the community that it serves. To know more about SM Cares, please visit www.smcares.com.ph, www.facebook.com/OfficialSMCares or email smcares@smprime.com.