Great-West Life, London Life and Canada Life support NextGen Lifeline youth recruitment program to help save lives
MAR. 7, 2019 (WINNIPEG) – Great-West Life, London Life and Canada Life have joined Canadian Blood Services as Founding Sponsor of the NextGen Lifeline youth recruitment program. This program is designed to engage Canada’s youth and make vital connections with the goal to help every patient, match every need and serve every Canadian.
Canadian Blood Services held a recruitment event today at Polo Park Mall to encourage Canadian youth to join Canada’s Lifeline as the next generation of blood and stem cell donors. Similar events will be held this month in select locations across the country to help patients like university student Alex Blake, who required multiple blood transfusions and a stem cell transplant to survive two types of cancer.
“Our company has a long relationship with Canadian Blood Services through our annual employee blood drives, and we’re honoured to now play a part in supporting the next generation of blood donors and future champions of the cause across the country,” says Debbie Down, Director, Community Relations, Great-West Life, London Life and Canada Life.
For more than 50 years, employees of Great-West Life, London Life and Canada Life have donated blood and blood products. Thanks to their financial support, the NextGen Lifeline will target new donors between the ages of 17-30 and mobilize a volunteer base of engaged youth to recruit blood and stem cell donors from amongst their peers.
Every year, Canadian Blood Services must recruit 100,000 new blood donors to meet the needs of patients across Canada. Continued engagement of our youth is essential in helping recruit the next generation of blood donors to meet the needs of Canadian patients.
About Canadian Blood Services
Canadian Blood Services is a not-for-profit charitable organization. Regulated by Health Canada as a biologics manufacturer and primarily funded by the provincial and territorial ministries of health, Canadian Blood Services operates with a national scope, infrastructure and governance that make it unique within Canadian healthcare. In the domain of blood, plasma and stem cells, we provide services for patients on behalf of all provincial and territorial governments except Quebec. The national transplant registry for interprovincial organ sharing and related programs reaches into all provinces and territories, as a biological lifeline for Canadians.
About Great West Life, London Life, Canada Life
Great-West Life, together with London Life and Canada Life, are leading Canadian insurers focused on improving the financial, physical and mental well-being of Canadians. Our customers across Canada have trusted us to provide for their financial security needs and deliver on the promises we have made. Together, we serve the financial security needs of 13 million people across Canada.
As an Imagine Caring Company supporting the principles of corporate citizenship and benchmarks for community investment established by Imagine Canada, our companies contribute at least one per cent of pre-tax profit in support of the communities where our employees and customers live and work. This includes $13.3 million in charitable contributions in 2018.
For more information, contact:
Canadian Blood Services
TEL. 1-877-709-7773
EMAIL media@blood.ca
Great-West Life, London Life and Canada Life
Liz Kulyk, Director, Media and Public Relations
TEL. 204-926-5012
EMAIL media.relations@gwl.ca