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COG Aggregation has announced a new broker blood drive initiative following a team member’s long-term battle with cancer.
Australian aggregators COG Aggregation and Platform Finance have partnered with Red Cross Lifeblood to create the COG Blood Drive and are now calling upon brokers to donate blood, plasma, or platelets.
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The COG Blood Drive is being held between February and June this year, and those in the industry are encouraged to join the COG Aggregation Lifeblood Team.
The partnership came about after COG Aggregation team member Darren Driscoll needed transfusions following two surgeries to treat medullary thyroid cancer (in 2012 and 2015).
Mr Driscoll said: “I’ve been relatively lucky I didn’t have to rely so much on transfusions, unlike with some cancers, but I am so thankful to the donors who allowed me to benefit from these vital donations.”
Mr Driscoll has made a total of 45 donations in his lifetime, with 20 donations made since his recovery.
He is now urging brokers to donate, stating: “One in three Australians will need blood or blood products in their lifetime to get through a serious event in their lives, like cancer. But sadly, only 3 per cent of us donate.
“It’s quick and painless, and I urge others in the broking and lending industry to roll up their sleeves.”
COG Aggregation hopes to use the broking network to spread the call to arms throughout the industry.
It is offering incentives to those in the broking community who donate, including monthly draws to win a range of prizes, with one entry for each blood, platelet or plasma donation.
Ryan Young, chief executive of COG Aggregation, commented: “Blood donation has touched the lives of numerous people within our business, as it has with most Australians. When the opportunity arose to establish a corporate program, we knew we were in a position to do even more.
“We’re hoping to leverage the power of this amazing network and tap into what makes it so special. Every drop counts. In fact, one blood donation can save up to three lives. So, let’s join forces and save lives together.”
Platform Finance’s head of strategic partnerships, Damian Mantini, is encouraging those who donate to post their visits to Lifeblood on social media using “#AssetFinanceBloodDrive” to “help drive even more donations” and to “make it go viral”.
Mr Mantini is hoping to motivate friends and family of brokers to donate with Lifeblood and further the cause beyond the broking community.
Noting the launch of COG Blood Drive, Ashleigh Hales, Lifeblood’s group account manager, commented that industry-based blood drives “are a powerful way to unite workplaces in a common cause and foster team spirit and community impact”.
“By organising blood drives within specific industries, we can harness collective commitment, making a significant contribution to saving lives through ‘healthy competition’ and promoting a culture of altruism in professional settings,” Ms Hales said.
According to Ms Hales, Lifeblood Teams contributed to 36.4 per cent of all donations made nationwide in the 2022–23 financial year, totalling more than 560,000 donations.
In Australia, 34 per cent of blood donations are used for cancer and blood diseases, while 19 per cent is used for anaemia and other needs and 18 per cent is needed for heart, organ and other non-orthopaedic surgeries.
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