Cybersmile and Philippine Red Cross Team Up To Save Lives On And Offline

PALO ALTO, November. 17, 2017 - Cybersmile and the Philippine Red Cross came together to promote a national day of bloodletting to save lives on and offline, through blood donations and the encouragement of a kinder, safer internet with the use of the #ImACybersmiler hashtag on social media. Official Cybersmile Ambassadors Daniel Padilla and Kathryn Bernardo headed up the nationwide initiative.

Throughout the day, thousands of volunteers donated blood at 18 centres across the Philippines which contributed 50,000cc of blood that could help save 360 lives. Themed “Give Blood. Fight Cyberbullying,” internet users around the world were encouraged to share their positive memes and images with the #ImACybersmiler and #LLSBloodletting hashtags.

"Everybody at Cybersmile feels proud to be working with the Philippine Red Cross and our Ambassadors Daniel Padilla and Kathryn Bernardo to save lives both on and offline. We would like to say a huge thank you to everybody involved with the event," - Dan Raisbeck, Co-Founder, The Cybersmile Foundation.

Blood donors and internet users were awarded a number of exclusive signed items as part of the initiative. Prizes were also offered to the best selfies and groupie posts of participants wearing their favorite La Luna Sangre character costumes from the hit series starring Daniel Padilla and Kathryn Bernardo.

The Cybersmile Ambassadors kicked off the day with a press conference held at the Philippine Red Cross Headquarters to raise awareness of the day, and talked about some of the issues people face with online abuse. Speaking with reporters, Daniel encouraged his fellow artists, musicians and everyone in showbiz to join him and Kathryn in tackling the growing problem of cyberbullying and online abuse.

Knowing that anyone using social media could go through the same experience as her, Bernardo has been keen to engage the public on the issue of cyberbullying, and said that family and friends can help people with negative feelings that cyberbullies cause, and that education was part of the solution in tackling it through forming values.

“I came to the point that I was in the room and I did not talk to people and I was very depressed. I hope people are more aware that this is a serious matter,” - Kathryn Bernardo, Official Cybersmile Ambassador.

In addition to The Cybersmile Foundation and the Philippine Red Cross, the bloodletting event was supported by Star Magic, ABS-CBN, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and the KDKN Solidarity Community. Some of the participating centres were in Batangas, Calamba, Tarlac, Cavite, Pampanga, Olongapo, Baguio, Cebu, Iloilo, Bacolod, Aklan, Dumaguete, Davao, Cagayan De Oro, Butuan, General Santos, Misamis Occidental, and Zamboanga City.

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