Latter-day Saint Charities, the humanitarian arm of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, recently donated equipment for a mobile blood donation truck, as well as a “sea life” mural to create a better experience for blood donors, at the Blood Donation Centre of French Polynesia (CTS).
The friendship between Eric Graffe, volunteer at the Church welfare department, and Dr Julien Broult, director of the centre, was the catalyst for this project.
- CTS-New-Mural-for-the-CTS-social-room-by-JOPS-,-thanks--to-LDS-Charities.jpg
- Dr Broult and his friend Eric Graffe at the Blood donation centre in front of the new mural.
- CTS ( L to R) Doctor, Jops the artist, the rep of the Arue Tahiti Stake and Annette Graffe .jpg
- CTS-Manea-Tuahu,-Director-of-welfare-Departmen-with-Taote-Broult-(middle),-rep-of-the-Association-of-donors-(far-left)-and-Eric-Graffe-project-manager.jpg
- Fresque-murale-CTS.jpg
- CTS all the entitities represented in front of the mural with street art artist JOPS (blue).
-Doctor,-Jops-the-artist,-the-rep-of-the-Arue-Tahiti-Stake-and-Annette-Graffe--.jpg){kind=link}
,-rep-of-the-Association-of-donors-(far-left)-and-Eric-Graffe-project-manager.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
| Temple Square is always beautiful in the springtime. Gardeners work to prepare the ground for General Conference. © 2012 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved. | 1 / 2 |
Dr Broult recalls: “One day Eric said to me, ‘That white wall in your lunchroom is sad and out of step with what you're doing. You give life, light, hope. We are going to change all that.’ Now, for our donors, sharing meals in this room after blood donations will be more enjoyable. I hope this magnificent mural of the sea, another symbol of life, will inspire donors to come back again and again.”
The centre’s white wall now has a colourful mural, “The Depths of the Ocean,” by artist Jonathan Collin, alias Jops, a well-known street artist.
“Taote (doctor) Broult and I are great friends,” said Eric Graffe. “He used to come to our church in his mobile ‘Blood Donation’ truck. Today, I thank him for letting us provide this sea life mural, to bless those who come to the blood donation centre. Thank you also to the staff, the nurses, and the doctors for your dedication and your trust."
Eric and Annette Graffe, a volunteer senior missionary couple in the Church’s Welfare and Self-Reliance Department, coordinated the project.
The Church also provided medical equipment to the Blood Donor Association of French Polynesia (ADSP) that will increase their capacity to draw blood and to expand their mobile blood donation campaigns.
Dr Broult concluded: "Thank you to The Church of Jesus Christ for this wonderful gift which will improve the comfort of our donors and ultimately increase our blood supply. On behalf of Polynesia, a warm thank you from our donors and patients."
Dr Broult underscored the need for more donors. “We invite women to donate blood at least four times a year and men six times a year," he said.
Manea Tuahu, from the Church’s Welfare and Self-Reliance Department, added: "We invite our members to donate blood, because, for us, the donation of blood is a way to serve our neighbour."
“This community service opportunity at the Blood Donation Centre,” he added, “is a good illustration of what we want to achieve to help improve general well-being and alleviate suffering in our community."