Largest Organ & Tissue Donation Event in US Saturday April 30th - 7 am - Cal State Fullerton

Donate Life California has impressed me over the years with their outstanding initiatives to increase the rate of organ and tissue donation. Further to their implementation of an on-line donor registry in 2004, 8,185,109 people have signed up to be a donor. (As of Apr. 22, 2011, 10:06am PT)

For this event I'm posting the full press release for the benefit of all, including the media.

LARGEST ORGAN and TISSUE DONATION EVENT in U.S.

NINTH ANNUAL DONATE LIFE RUN/WALK & FAMILY FESTIVAL 7:00 AM, SAT., APRIL 30, CAL STATE FULLERTON
More than 9,000 Southlanders Join to Inspire Organ, Tissue, Eye Donation

What: More than 9,000 Southlanders, supported by area businesses and transplant centers, join together at the Donate Life Run/Walk & Family Festival, the largest Donate Life-themed community event in the nation, to inspire Californians to be organ and tissue donors. The event caps April’s National Donate Life Month with a morning program featuring 19 Orange County mayors, city council members and civic leaders walking with constituent families, a 75-vendor family festival, and health screenings. The opening ceremony includes emotional tributes and a dramatic release of doves by donor family members and transplant recipients. Performing onstage will be American Idol season nine finalists Katie Stevens and Tim Urban and Grammy award-winning pop/R&B group All-4-One, who created a song inspired in part by the founders of the Donate Life Run/Walk Kathleen and Craig Hostert. Proceeds from the event will support Donate Life California Organ & Tissue Donor Registry enrollment campaigns.

When: Sat., April 30, 2011, 7:00 am – Registration opens
• 8:15 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. - Opening ceremony with keynote speakers and lighting of Flame of Life
• 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. - Run/Walk
• 10:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. – Family Health Festival

Who: Keynote speakers include Ann Lopez, kidney donor to her husband, comedian George Lopez; Max Zapata, Clovis, a good Samaritan living kidney donor who kicked off a 10-person kidney chain in 2009 that was featured on CBS; Craig Hostert, event co-founder and kidney recipient (from his wife, Kathleen); A. Thomas Bender, San Juan Capistrano, kidney recipient (from his daughter, Cindee) and chairman of the board of Cooper Companies; Mayor Don Bankhead, Fullerton; and Roger Weninger, Managing Partner, Moss Adams, LLP, presenting sponsor; and special guest Phillip Palmer, ABC7 and living kidney donor.

Hundreds of teams with some 4,000 participants – each wearing a t-shirt and button featuring photos of loved ones who gave life in their passing – organized by family members of organ and tissue donors, as well as teams celebrating transplant recipients, transplant candidates and supporting business entities, including:

• Celebrating Scott Davis (Huntington Beach) – Nearly 200 people honor 19-year-old Scott, who donated five organs and tissue after a fatal skateboarding accident;
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• Team Vons – 333 employees representing four local districts of Vons supermarkets in memory of store manager Keith Walton, who became an organ donor after suffering a fatal stroke;
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• In Honor of Conor (Sherman Oaks) – Honors 16-year-old Conor Lloyd Lynch, who died from a hit-and-run while running with his cross-country team from Notre Dame High School;
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• Team Bryan (Ontario) – More than 100 people honor 22-year-old donor Bryan Morales;
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• Team Ortega (La Habra) – In support of Ed Ortega, who has participated in every Run/Walk despite being on dialysis and finally received a new kidney in March after eight years on the kidney transplant list;
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• Team Messiah (Yorba Linda) – Messiah Lutheran Church Pastor Bob Mooney (tissue recipient), volunteer Heather Thommen (three-time liver recipient), and congregants from the OC church, honor the gift of life and nine-month old Jack Dunavan, a heart recipient;
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• Team Brice Fabing Paragon 4 Life (Lompoc) – Honors 17-year-old Brice Fabing, whose heart recipient Jim Stavis (Calabasas), will be walking with the Fabing family for the first time;
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• Transplant professionals and employees from event sponsors St. Joseph Hospital Kidney Transplant Program, Cedars-Sinai Comprehensive Transplant Center, St. Vincent Medical Center, and UCI Transplant Center;
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• Nineteen mayors and city council members from Orange County cities including Azusa, Barstow, Buena Park, Cypress, Fountain Valley, Fullerton, La Habra, Laguna Woods, Orange, Orange County, Pomona, Placentia, Santa Ana, Villa Park, Westminster constituent donor family members and transplant recipients;
• Yorba Linda walking with Moss Adams LLP, presenting sponsor of the Run/Walk; W. L. Butler Construction, Inc.; Vons; and Donate Life media partners CBS Radio and Orange Coast Magazine.

Where: Intramural Field at Cal State University Fullerton campus
800 State College Blvd., Fullerton, CA 92831
[Media should go directly to “Media Check-In” – Park in VIP section with identification]

Photo Opportunities: ·
• Lighting of Flame of Life torch honoring donors, recipients and transplant candidates on waiting lists;
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• Circle of Life Garden with more than 100 photo-bearing signs honoring donors and recipients;
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• Opening of eight baskets of doves in memory of loved ones, including two former Orange County mayors, both liver recipients – Bill Lentini (Brea) and Greg Sowards (Placentia);
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• Return of 13 floragraphs to families of donors who were featured on the 2011 Donate Life Rose Parade float
• Contact: Elena de la Cruz, (213) 479-4704, edelacruz@onelegacy.org
  Rivian Bell or Lisa Bernfeld, JDI Communications, (310) 592-8423 or (888) 477-4329 (24/7),
  rlb@abmac.com or lbernfeld@jdipr.com

For more event information, visit www.donateliferunwalk.org

For information about the Donate Life California Registry, visit www.donateLIFEcalifornia.org or,
in Spanish, www.doneVIDAcalifornia.org

“You Have the Power to Save Lives – Register to be an organ and tissue donor & Tell Your Loved Ones of Your Decision”

Register to be a donor in Ontario at Trillium Gift of Life Network NEW for Ontario: recycleMe.org - Learn The Ins & Outs Of Organ And Tissue Donation. Register Today!
For other Canadian provinces click here

In the United States, be sure to find out how to register in your state at ShareYourLife.org or Download Donor Cards from OrganDonor.Gov

In Great Britain, register at NHS Organ Donor Register

In Australia, register at Australian Organ Donor Register

Your generosity can save or enhance the lives of up to fifty people with heart, kidneys, liver, lungs, pancreas and small intestine transplants (see allotransplantation). One tissue donor can help by donating skin, corneas, bone, tendon, ligaments and heart valves

Has your life been saved by an organ transplant? "Pay it forward" and help spread the word about the need for organ donation - In the U.S. another person is added to the national transplant waiting list every 11 minutes and 18 people die each day waiting for an organ or tissue transplant. Organs can save lives, corneas renew vision, and tissue may help to restore someone's ability to walk, run or move freely without pain. Life Begins with You