NEW GUINNESS WORLD RECORD SET BY CHURCH FOR BLOOD DONATION

Over 71,000 members of the youth volunteer group ‘WE ARE ONE’, headquartered in South Korea, set a new Guinness World Records™ title for the most people to sign up online as blood donors within 24 hours.

‘WE ARE ONE’ which forms part of the international church organisation, Shincheonji Church of Jesus, set a goal of 70,000 blood donations in an attempt to raise awareness of the importance of donating blood.

Through their “Life ON Youth ON” donation campaign, the group wanted to help alleviate the blood shortage caused by the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide.

While 71,121 volunteers registered to donate within 24 hours on 1 October this year in South Korea, more than 700 of Shincheonji’s congregation members in South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe also participated in this campaign. African members of the church wanted to show their unity with this noble cause.

While the majority of countries in Southern Africa have been struggling to maintain sufficient blood stock levels since the pandemic started, most national blood agencies welcomed this initiative taken by ‘WE ARE ONE’ and Shincheonji.

According to a report published by the World Health Organisation in June 2022, shortages of blood have impacted all countries during and since the COVID-19 pandemic started.

Through 'Red Connect', the official blood donation smartphone application developed for the Korean Red Cross, all the volunteers registered online within 24 hours to donate blood.

This is almost seven times the previous world record of 10,217 (8 hours) held by India.

Junsu Hong, the head of ‘WE ARE ONE’ said, “It was possible to achieve our goal not only because of the volunteers, but also the Korean Red Cross officials working at the forefront to solve the blood shortage, and the IT company that developed an efficient blood donation application system."

In South Korea a total of 43,811 people completed their blood donation since the campaign started. The plan is to reach the goal of more than 71,000 people by November.

In South Africa Khulekani Zuma, a spokesperson for the South African Nation Blood Service said, “I must say I am very moved by the Shincheonji Church initiative to break the World Record. I’m very proud and happy that they’ve taken this stance to try and save lives, not only by talking, but by taking action as well.”

The official record is accessible on the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS™ website.