Bonded by blood

Hailing from sober backgrounds, they felt the need to save the common public from fighting for their basic rights and toiling from lack of influence. “I have witnessed many people stumble upon hurdles like corruption, lack of proper medical treatment because of no ‘recommendation’ from influential people and many such countless social issues.

We wanted to make a common man believe that there is something in this world for which you don’t have to fight; at least not anymore. This is why friendstosupport was started.” The website allows any person to register and volunteer to be a blood donor. Those in need of blood can choose the city, the required blood group and select the kind of donor best suited for them.

How it grew

The founders became the first donors, after which people joined in as they progressed and the group grew. Shareef and his team had to manage their IT jobs and the challenge of spreading the idea. They mailed whoever they knew about the site in their spare time, who, in turn, spread it to other people. They held gatherings, approached people door-to-door and that was how F2S gained popularity.

Challenges

“The real task was to convince people about the idea. We faced a lot of discouragement initially. A thorough research had to be done on the myths and facts of blood donation, the present system of blood donation had to be studied and relevant data on blood donation needed cooperation from many people like medicos, etc. Finding the right person and convincing them to cooperate was a difficult task,” Shareef explains.

Three years down the lane, though F2S still faces many challenges, they are glad that people have accepted the idea wholeheartedly and are coming forward to volunteer. They work on the principle ‘one should donate blood only when the need arises’ and, hence, are against blood donation camps which, they feel, lead to colossal wastage of blood.

“F2S is not a money-making organisation. The donors on the website have registered with the sole purpose of serving the society. They donate blood out of their goodwill. We do not conduct blood donation camps. With a life of only 30 days from the date of donation, one cannot be sure if his/her blood was even utilised or wasted in those camps, besides which they fleece money from those who need it,” says Shareef.

Activities

F2S has conducted many landmark events to promote their idea, like a 10-km walk in Guntur, a 10-km walk in Vijayawada and a 5-km walk in Hyderabad to mark their second anniversary for creating awareness, in which the public participated in great numbers. They also organised a signature campaign across Vijayawada.

The Manthan Award was given to F2S in 2007 for having the best digital content for development of society. Their future plans include establishing a toll-free number across the country, which will support all languages and will be completely free of cost and concentrating on rural education and starting a book donation website.

“Being part of a country of 100 million, don’t you think that the need for a common man to ‘BUY’ blood is unnecessary? Especially when there are lakhs of people who come forward to donate blood wholeheartedly?

Any person in need of blood at any place in India should get it within minutes, thereby putting an end to colossal wastage of valuable blood collected at blood donation camps. This is what we believe in.” On that note, F2S chugs on.