[Cheonji Ilbo = Reporter Soo-kyung Kang] After hearing the news of the blood supply crisis in Korea, Shincheonji Church of Jesus, the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony (Shincheonji Church of Jesus, Chairman Man-hee Lee) volunteered to donate blood nationwide and has achieved its target of securing blood from 6,000 donors within just three days.

According to the Korean Red Cross Blood Services, about 2,000 volunteers from Shincheonji Church of Jesus had made a full blood donation within the first 24 hours of the launch of the campaign. Despite fulfilling the target, Shincheonji Church of Jesus plans to provide a blood donation service as scheduled, until the end of this month, in order to help alleviate the blood supply crisis as much as possible.

The donation by 6,000 donors far exceeds the required national daily average of 5,400 donors, and is an unprecedented achievement by any single organisation within a short period of time.

Although a considerable number of Shincheonji Church of Jesus members had come forward in response to news of the blood supply crisis from the outset, their expectation was to meet the target from eligible blood donors within ten days. The church has expressed deep gratitude to its members for having actively participated in this campaign and achieving the target within just three days.

In the early days of Covid-19, when there was no vaccine or treatment, and in response to a request by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), 6,000 members of Shincheonji Daegu Church voluntarily participated in collective blood plasma donation, from July to December 2020, for the development of a treatment for COVID-19. 

The plasma has been used for drug development and viral research, and is currently being used in clinical trials for the development and distribution of domestically developed vaccines for COVID-19.