Why get involved with recruiting donors?

The answer is easy. How often do you get the chance to affect one person's life for the better?

My cousin Ronnie has a number of projects going on in India to help improve the lives of the poor. His motto is "Each one, teach one." He believes if every person of means in India helped out just one person with school fees or microcredit loans, imagine the kind of change that could be unleashed.

What works better for me is "Each one, reach one." Even though I have already forwarded messages about the upcoming Swab-a-thon here in Toronto or posted a note on our Facebook pages, it's when I actually reach out and check in with my friends, answer their questions, remind them about the statistics or how more people donate stem cells through a blood donation process rather than through a bone marrow transplant, that a few more friends ACT and register. Each one, reach one. And repeat.

I'm probably not going to save the world anytime soon. I'm not working on some fabulous vaccine or hydrogen-fuelled car. But I can spread the word to register with OneMatch or pass along the recruitment message that we need more South Asians, well, more people of all backgrounds, to participate.

And so can you. Each one, reach one.

Piali