b' NewsThe Four Wheel Drive Victoria LifeBlood ChallengeAustralian Red Cross LifeBlood is exclusively responsible To join this, all a donor needs to do is literally sign upfor the collection, storage, processing and distribution of when they donate; in our case, to Four Wheel Driveblood and blood products within Australia. Blood and Victoria. Our LifeBlood team currently has 19 members andblood products are essential to modern medicine, and in 2020 made 71 donations of whole blood, plasma andwithout them, many people would die. There is no platelets for the year.alternative or substitute.Between the 1st of July 2021 and 30th of June 2022, aIn Australia, all blood and blood products are provided challenge will be run to see who can make the mostexclusively by voluntary, unpaid donors. Current statistics donations in that period, and also which club is the mostsay that one in three Australians will require blood or blood generous, weighted against the number of members in thatproducts during their lifetime, but that only one in thirty club. When a donation is made, the donor will post to eitherdonates. The reality is that it is closer to three in five will a dedicated Facebook page or e-mail, noting theirrequire blood, and that fewer than in one in forty donates. donation. At the end, the individual and the club that haveAustralias population is growing rapidly, but the donor pool provided the most donations would be presented with ais growing at a far lesser rate. There are approximately small token of thanks for their generosity. In the event of a525,000 donors providing around 1.5 million donations tie, the winner would be decided by a draw. This(20192020). The bulk of these donations are made by challenge will only be open to financial members ofless than 75,000 donors. affiliated clubs. Several years ago, at a general meeting of members of If you are not currently a donor, we urge you to becomeFour Wheel Drive Clubs, I conducted a straw poll of those one, and, also if you are already, sign up to LifeBlood teampresent, and it indicated that roughly 25 per cent were Four Wheel Drive Victoria.blood donors. If this is carried through to the wider This is an opportunity to raise awareness in themembership, it would potentially amount to more than 1200 community of this vital service and demonstrate thedonors within Four Wheel Drive Victoria.ongoing involvement of four wheel drivers benefitting theARCLB operates a program called LifeBlood Teams community. Although we may never know the people we(formerly Club Red/ Red 25). The aim is to have a stable help, we can be assured that we are making a hugebase of dedicated donors who provide a reliable 25% of difference to so many lives. It may even be someone youthe required donations. In a genial, lighthearted, know and love. Please join this challenge.competitive way, groups from a common base band Step up, lie down and save lives.together to donate and have their donations count towardsa group total that can be compared against other groups.Dave RobertsTRACKWATCH MARCH 2021 3'