A record was broken in beautiful Međimurje where the Foundation’s project is continuously being carried out in cooperation with the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Croatia!
As always, a report written by our own Ana-Marija can be found on our pages under The Foundation’s Activities – Actions in Towns, and this is how the action was covered on the official pages of the Ministry of the Interior (www.mup.hr):
Earlier today, from 10 AM to 1 PM, the 6th humanitarian action organized jointly by the Ministry of the Interior and the Ana Rukavina Foundation was held at the Međimurje Police Administration.
Members of the Čakovec Public Fire Brigade Station, the Retirement Association of the Međimurje Police Administration, representatives of the media, and citizens all joined the staff of the Međimurje Police Administration in a voluntary action to donate blood samples for HLA tissue typing in order to determine the antigens of stem cells and add their names to the Registry of voluntary bone marrow donors.
A total of 108 individuals participated in today’s action, which has been our most successful action yet. The success is even greater in light of the fact that it took place in one of the smallest police administrations in the country.
The action was preceded by a press conference at which Ivan Sokač welcomed the gathering. He thanked all those who organized the action as well as all those who participated in it. He pointed out that the staff of the Međimurje Police Administration was always ready to participate in humanitarian actions, particularly those that benefited people with special needs. The president of the Retirement Association of the Međimurje Police Administration, Dragutin Bajsić, pointed out that all members of the association under the age of 55 responded to the invitation.
The commander of the Čakovec Public Fire Brigade Station, Ivan Krištofić, highlighted the exceptional cooperation that exists between the fire brigade and the Međimurje Police Administration and said that over half the members of the brigade were regular blood donors and that he hoped their presence would contribute to the overall success of the action. The press conference was also attended by the mayor of Čakovec, Branko Šalamon, who said that the citizens of Čakovec are always ready to help, particularly people with special needs. “Ours town may be small, but we are always ready to show solidarity. We are glad that we are involved in the action and we hope that it will be a success,” said the mayor.
The Foundation representative, Ana-Marija Galli Godinić, thanked the Ministry of the Interior and underscored that the Ministry is the first institution which realized this form of cooperation with the Foundation and supported its work, but also that it was the first case anywhere in the world in which the police have become involved in such actions. She also highlighted the excellent results that had been achieved in the past. “The number of voluntary donors has increased to over 27,000 and we hope that by the end of the year we will be able to record a figure of 40,000 voluntary donors.”
The head of the minister’s office, Dražen Krtanjek, also addressed the participants and said that a large number of the Ministry’s employees had taken part in the previous five actions. He emphasized that the main motto of the police work is to help people.
“The decision to cooperate with the Foundation was the fastest decision we have ever made. We hope that we will continue to participate in such actions and help in any way we can. I would like to express my gratitude to all those who responded to the invitation to take part in this action and particularly the media because without their help the success would not have been nearly as great. I would like to emphasis that this form of cooperation confirms the slogan, ‘first in war – first in peace’ ” said the head of the minister’s office, Dražen Krtanjek.
Joint actions by the Ministry of the Interior and the Foundation have been taking place since May of this year, with the aim of expanding the Registry of voluntary bone marrow donors and helping those suffering from leukemia and lymphoma.
Next month, joint actions are scheduled to take place in the Virovitica and Podravina Police Administration and in the Sisak and Moslavina Police Administration, and they will continue to take place in all the police administrations in the Republic of Croatia.