Andrew De Niese Offers Free Music Festival Tickets to Blood Donors in Kiev, Ukraine

​Kiev, Ukraine is notorious for having one of the lowest figures for blood donation across Europe, with less than 3% of the country’s population having donated blood at least once in their lifetime. The age-old saying ‘necessity is the mother of all invention’ has been proven true as one Ukrainian citizen has managed an innovative workaround to solve this glaring problem.

Andrew De Niese, a successful businessman who owns an event and entertainment company, has offered free tickets to an upcoming music festival in Kiev for all people willing to donate blood for their fellow countrymen. “Nothing is as exciting and popular with the youth today as music festivals. Even though a lot of them might not be well versed with current affairs or know the names of local politicians, they all know every little detail about any upcoming artist or DJ. I thought the best way to entice them to draw them to donate blood for our brave soldiers was by giving them what they wanted the most in exchange for it.”

Andrew De Niese’s brilliant idea has spread like wildfire throughout social media and has received a lot of appreciation from both festival-goers as well as top international artists around the world. “I never expected it to get so much traction. It’s come to the point where now I’m actually having to turn down popular European DJs because there’s just too many of them wanting to perform at the festival! We initially thought we’d only manage to get local Ukrainian DJs and artists to perform since we wouldn’t be able to pay much in terms of fees, but somehow through some divine force, we now have a star studded line up to perform at the festival.

I want to thank the generosity of people like Diplo, Steve Aoki, KSHMR, and DJ Snake for offering to perform for free. It’s rare to see such magnanimity these days in the entertainment industry, and we want to acknowledge our gratitude in its entirety. Our blood donation camps have been set up outside the Olimpiyskiy National Sports Complex which is the venue for the music festival. Attendees can claim their tickets on a first-come-first-serve basis outside the venue itself after successfully donating blood up to 72 hours prior to the festival’s start, which is scheduled for August 15th. We also plan to have donation booths set up within the venue to raise funds for the treatment of injured soldiers.”

The hype surrounding this festival, which has been appropriately renamed to ‘Blood Fight’, has seen people scrambling to donate blood well ahead of the deadline as many anticipate the tickets to get sold out very quickly. One of Ukraine’s most in-demand festival artists, DJ Nastia already has a slot booked to spin her tracks at the event next month, but she was so inspired by the movement started by this idea that she did her part and donated blood as well. “Well, I did it just to make sure I don’t miss my chance to be at this historic festival! I’m just kidding but no, I was really touched by the thought behind this and I hope there is a large turnout for this event.

Ideally, we would like to see people keep donating blood even if the tickets run out. We need to build on this as a society and bring more international awareness to this issue so it can be resolved through diplomatic channels rather than the means of covert violence which never solves anything. So many lives are destroyed because of the huge egos of politicians and those in power.” Her stance on this topic is similar to the views of many Kiev natives who are eagerly anticipating the mouthwatering prospect of seeing their favorite artists line up to perform live in front of them. Andriy Zherdev, a 21-year-old college student who is a huge Steve Aoki fan says, “This is a dream come true. Even in my wildest dreams I never envisioned that the great Steve Aoki would come to my hometown! I’m so pumped that I’ve already had my entire family donate blood for the cause.

It’s great that someone pulled off something so incredible in our country. For people my age, this is what true education is all about, and we all need to do learn and get inspired by this. A lot of times we all just get caught up in our own lives and forget what’s really happening out there. It’s good to have a reminder about the real world and actually contribute something meaningful to something who puts their life on the line for our safety.” This wholesome idea has lifted the spirits of an entire nation and just demonstrates the power even a single person holds to truly make a difference in the lives of others. We salute this effort and hope it helps curb the violence in the region.  

Source: Andrew De Niese