Swindon businesses, including Barclays Bank, have been praised for helping to raise nearly £3,000 to increase awareness of altruistic kidney donation – the act of giving a kidney to a stranger – at a recent charity event.
Jasie Rai, director of Swindon-based lead generation and business development firm The Sales and Marketing Hub, organised the Ladies’ Charity Night to raise money for national charity Give a Kidney. The evening included Indian food and entertainment.
In addition to The Sales and Marketing Hub, many local businesses contributed to the event, including Barclays Bank which matched the first £750 raised, and the Swindon Sikh Temple and Punjabi Community Centre.
Further support was provided through catering, printing, raffle prizes and more by The Khyber Restaurant, The Rug Shack, Stanton House Hotel, MLL Print & Digital, Kams Motor Clinic, Cross Street Cars, Amy’s Beautician and the Asset Guardian Company.
Jasie Rai said: “As someone with one kidney following a nephrectomy on one and a pyeloplasty on the other, I understand the urgent need for more people to consider donating kidneys. There are currently around 6,000 people on the waiting list for a kidney transplant in the UK, and around 300 people in need of a kidney die in need of a kidney each year.
“Humans only need one kidney so if more healthy people came forward to give theirs, many more lives could be saved.
“I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who supported the event and all those who attended for making it possible and joining with me to help raise awareness of altruistic kidney donation.”
Chair of Give a Kidney, Chris Burns Cox, added: “Enormous thanks and congratulations to Jasie and to everyone who made such a fantastic event.
“It was a very special and memorable evening and the funds raised for Give a Kidney will help us spread the word even further about the need for more altruistic donors to come forward to help improve the lives and life-expectancies of those with kidney failure.
“Living kidney donation has been taking place in the UK since the 1960s and is now widely-practised across the UK. Although the number of altruistic donors is on the increase, there is still a long way to go before we make a real dent on the length of the waiting list.”
Anyone wishing to consider giving the gift of a kidney to someone can find out more at www.giveakidney.org.
Pictured: Jasie Rai with Chris Burns-Cox, Give a Kidney chair and an altruistic kidney donor himself. Photo by Sabine Coe
