The Second Rotary Club of Manila/ RCManila Foundation, Inc. Bloodletting Activity, A Success

My fellow Rotarians, we are happy to report that the Second Bloodletting Activity of the Rotary Club of Manila was, indeed, a success. The activity was held at Esguerra Farms in Lipa City hosted by our PE/PVP Hermie Esguerra in partnership with the Philippine Red Cross and Rotary District 3810. All health protocols were observed from the moment you enter the property. The guards of the farm sanitized the vehicles of the guests. As you enter the farm, two (2) golden horse statues would welcome you plus the beautiful scene of Mt. Maculot to your right. Of course, guests had to undergo a nasal swab antigen test. While waiting, guests were delighted with suman and hot choco and would then receive a t-shirt with the words “People of Action”, which is Rotary’s vision and global ad campaign, once confirmed with a negative result. At the end of the day, the members and guests felt safe because of all the health protocols in place.

We had a very strong showing with 37 attendees from the Rotary Club of Manila and 21 participants from 14 clubs of District 3810, 6 members of the administrative staff of the Rotary Club of Manila and 4 members of the Rotary District 3810 staff, 127 from the farmhand, staff and household of Esguerra Farms, and 26 assistants and drivers of Rotarians which would amount to a total of 221 attendees. Out of all the attendees, 61 were approved to donate blood and 75 were disapproved due to insufficient sleep, consumption of blood thinning medicines, and due to other Philippine Red Cross regulations on donating blood. With the collection of 61 bags of 450cc each, we were able to get 27,450 cc of blood. The blood types collected were 17 type As, 15 type Bs, 25 type Os, and 4 type ABs. The blood letting ended with a group photo of the Rotary Club of Manila, Rotary District 3810 and the Philippine Red Cross.

Again, this was a successful community project under the Disease Prevention and Treatment goal. This would not have been successful if it wasn’t for your support so let’s continue to support our community project initiatives.

Fellowship by STAR Rtn. Anton Mauricio

It is an exciting sight to see that we are slowly reaching a state of normalcy as for the first time in a very long time, seasoned and STAR Rotarians gathered for a fun-filled afternoon. With Fellowship being part of one of the 5 avenues of service in Rotary, we made sure that everyone would have a great time. It was indeed a feast! We were treated with cochinillo, kurobuta lechon, baked salmon, shrimps, adobong kambing, kalderetang kambing, lamb, freshly harvested organic veggies, etc. There were also unlimited rounds of wine, soju, etc.

A Rotary event would not be complete without some words of inspiration from our RCM luminaries starting from our President Chito Zaldarriaga followed by DDCC/PP Jackie Rodriguez. The event itself promoted DEI or Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion among Rotarians; club admin staff and volunteers. Again, the fellowship represented 14 Rotary clubs within the district! There were a lot of singing and dancing amongst Rotarians led by our rockstar PE/PVP Hermie Esguerra and a lot of pocket conversations and new friendships formed. This targets our Membership Engagement and would surely make our members active.

We also had a farm tour showcasing the process of cultivating kurobuta, goat and lamb meat. This is part of the Community Economic Development Area of Focus of Rotary. It was also observed that the farm was very environmentally friendly with no use of plastic and the place was very clean. This is a testament of a Rotarian Supporting the Environment, another Area of Focus of Rotary.

Lastly, a debriefing and mentoring session was done after the project so that STAR Rotarians like us would be able to learn the ropes and do projects the Rotary way.