Peckham chapel used as Blood donation centre

In response to the encouragement of leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to make Church buildings available for the use of the NHS Blood and Transplant Service, the Peckham chapel, which is based in Wandsworth, London, is now being used as a community blood donation site.

After negotiations the first session took place in March 2013 and the second occurred on 2nd April.  In order to assist the Blood Service with publicity the youth and youth leaders of Peckham Ward readily accepted the challenge of distributing approximately 200 leaflets (on each occasion) to the home of local residents.  

The NHSBT relies heavily on blood from volunteer donors in order to perform a varied range of medical procedures.  For this reason the response of community donors on both occasions was very pleasing.  It was a wonderful sight when a class of students from the local university streamed into the building, many of whom were first time donors.  It was also gratifying that a number of Church members also responded positively to the call to become donors and 13 people donated, five of whom were new donors.  Initially some of the new donors had a degree of anxiety but found that the actual donation time took an average of ten minutes - one person’s took just over four minutes – a record. All of them viewed blood donation as a very important way of helping others.  Indeed, one donor, James, commented “it’s a small thing to do and you can save a life.  It’s also an incentive to stay healthy”.  

Apart from Blood Service staff being pleased with the facilities available, they also expressed appreciation for the service and hospitality given by members of the Church.  Community blood donation is intended to be a long term activity and dates have already been scheduled for September and October.