Halloween, a festivity loved and celebrated by most of us, is the perfect time to dress up in the scariest of outfits and tell spooky stories that will keep you up all night. Usually an event reserved for children, with the well-known tradition of trick or treating, teenagers and the younger generation also carry on the spirit of Halloween with fancy costume parties or Halloween-themed movie nights.
This year, it is not only those looking for an excuse for a party that have dressed up, Tuesday, Ocrober 31 saw the Santa Maria Hospital in Siena overrun by witches.
Members of the volunteer group Avis di Taverne choose Halloween to donate blood along with members of the Hotwheels Scooter Club. Both groups work to raise awareness about the need to contributing to the blood bank to help patients. Also present and taking part in the event were two well-known former soccer players: Stefano Argilli and Simone Vergassola, representing Robur Siena soccer club.
In order to encourage future donations, all three groups and the former players dressed up as witches.
Director of the hospital’s immunohematology department, Giuseppe Campoccia is highly proud of the initiative and praises its purpose, “There’s always a need for more donors, in particular young donors. I am sure that Vergassola and Argilli, renowned local sports figures, will help to spread awareness among the younger population.”
While many of us enjoy the Halloween tradition of becoming a vampire, witch or ghost, it is a rarity for it to be associated with charity. (karen gee)
