BENGALURU: Biking Buddies – a city-based biker group conducted a blood donation camp that saw a huge participation from the public. The group conducted a bike rally that was attended by around 200 and more bikes, which included bikers from more than 35 biking clubs in Bengaluru. “This is our third anniversary year and we wanted to give something back to the society,” says Abhishek B V, who is the convener of Biking Buddies.
Earlier the group helped out in schools. “Past two years, we went to government schools and helped them with basic necessities and distributed stationary and constructed toilets,” he says, adding,“This year we thought of a blood donation camp and invited other biker groups.”
The event was organised to observe the World Blood Donor’s Day, which passed few days ago, on June 14. The rally was flagged off by an 84-year-old biker Chakravarthy and the Additional DGP of KSRP Bhaskar Rao.
The rally started from Seshadripuram College and went through some main roads of Malleshwaram, Seshadripuram and Highgrounds before returning to the venue.
“Bikers are passionate people,” says Chakravarthy. “We thought we can do what we love and spread the message of compassion. Biking shouldn’t be just for fun. It is nice to see people coming together on a cause.”
As much as 166 units of blood was collected during the event, which was supported by three blood banks in the city – The Indian Red Cross Society, The Kidwai Blood Bank and The Lions Blood Bank.
“We had conducted some safety and first-aid workshops earlier,” says Shweta Rao, a Biking Buddies member. “To do a bit more, we came up with the blood donation camp”.
The event was conducted in association with The Lions Club of Bangalore, Sanjay Nagar, and the Rotary Bangalore Centennial.