HEART-WARMING EXCHANGE OF BLOOD CARDS

[Anchor Lead]

A fire station in Ulsan donated hundreds of blood donation cards for young cancer patients. Young people in their twenties first donated their cards for firefighters, who in turn added their own cards for sick children.

[Pkg]

University student Ahn Min-su visited a fire station on Fire Service Recognition Day in early November. He donated 31 blood donation cards with a hand-written letter thanking them for saving lives. He was deeply moved by the firefighters who risked their lives to save others in an apartment fire in Ulsan in October 2020. Since then, he has been saving blood donation cards to help firefighters and their families.

[Soundbite] Ahn Min-su(Blood Donor) : "I respect firefighters. I found out that they get hurt a lot. So I decided to donate my cards to help them."

Another man in his 20s donated 100 blood donation cards. Inspired by their good will, firefighters joined them in donating blood donation cards. Nearly 200 cards were collected in just one week. Together with the cards from the young men, roughly 320 blood donation cards were delivered to the Korean Association for Children with Leukemia and Cancer. One fire fighter soon to retire donated 100 cards. He started giving blood some 20 years ago when he helped out a student with leukemia by donating his blood donation cards. He decided to join the good deed again and donated the cards he has been saving.

[Soundbite] Hong In-ho(Director, Ulsan Jungbu Fire Station) : "I was saving my blood donation cards with an intent to use them for a good cause. When people donated their cards on Fire Service Recognition Day, I wanted to donate my cards too."

At a time when there is a serious shortage of blood as donation has fallen due to the pandemic, the kind acts by these selfless individuals should inspire others to do more.