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The PBCers Organ Donation Awareness Committee offers the following suggestions for us all to help promote donation. Please feel free to email us any other ideas you might have...... I'm sure there's many we haven't thought of.
If you belong to one of the local chapters that are being organized, we'd love to have one of your groups represent the chapter in the ODA committee. Anyone interested, please send an email to Kandysfl@aol.com.
Get people asking the question "Are you an organ & tissue donor?"
Tips to help you speak to a small or large group
Remind family, friends and coworkers to share their decision to be a donor with their family* so that there will be no question later. Remember, it is not enough to sign a donor card or the back of a drivers’ license.
Put an organ & tissue donation bumper sticker on your car. Wear a T-shirt, hat or even shoelaces with a message about donation - it’s a great conversation starter.
Put posters on bulletin boards or in windows of laundromats, libraries, doctors’ offices, grocery stores and fast-food restaurants in your community.
Promote donation through newsletters produced by your company, church, neighborhood or civic associations newsletters. If you have had a personal experience with organ and tissue donation and transplantation you can even volunteer to speak to these groups or ask a representative from your local coalition.
Ask employers and businesses to use payroll or bill stuffers about organ and tissue donation.
Get involved in your community through your local coalition. An organized and consistent approach will be most effective in increasing the number of organ and tissue donors and saving lives.
Make a financial contribution to national or local efforts to educate the public and increase organ and tissue donation. Contact the Coalition on Donation or your local coalition for details.
* Your legal next-of-kin will be asked to sign consent for donation at the time of your death.
Here are some suggestions to promote organ donation awareness in your home community:
Speak at a community functions such as service organizations (Elks, Rotary Kiwanis, VFW, and Lions Club), school (PTA, functions, nursery through college), scouting clubs (Boy/Girl Scouts, 4H, Camp Fire), religious functions (church, synagogue).
Wear items such as TRIO's green lapel ribbons or articles such as buttons, shirts, or hats that have a donation message on them
Display answers to commonly asked questions about donation at your local merchants (bank, florist, grocery store, malls, pharmacy).
Appear on local TV cable network or speak on radio talk show.
Walk in parades and walk-a-thons and run in marathons wearing clothing that publicizes donation.
Run an advertisement in your newspaper, trade magazine or church bulletin (see sample bulletin inserts).
Put a donation bumper sticker on your car, child's stroller and bicycle.
Write an editorial for your local newspaper discussing donation.
Write to your local congressmen and other government officials.
Setup a program with your employer to promote donation (for example, enclose donor cards in payroll envelopes).
Organize a bowling tournament, weightlifting competition or golfing event to promote awareness.
Ask your neighborhood distributors (Tupperware, Amway, Shaklee, Mary Kay, Avon) to enclose donation information in their brochures.
Send donor cards with your correspondence (letters, bill payments, holiday greetings, birthday cards, business letters).
Ask local merchants to add information on their sales register receipts.
Implement a program with your mass transit, bridge or highway authority.
Ask local movie theaters to display information on the movie screen during the intermission.
Work with your transplant team to display information in hospital emergency rooms, cafeterias and clinics.
Have a ceremony to plant a donor memorial garden and publicize the event.
Post information at your library, community center, post office or other public place.
Hand out donor cards at your local race track, carnival, grocery store, amusement park, concert, or theater.
Most importantly, be sure to share your personal story with others.
Let them meet your child. It will help them visualize the miracle of transplantation and better understand the importance of organ donation.
Ask them to discuss organ donation with their family and share their decision. Organ donation...it's the opportunity of a lifetime!
Lisa Carroccio
Biliary Atresia & Liver Transplant Network
Copyright 1996. All rights reserved.
• Hey! Get and use the new donor awareness postage stamps that will was introduced by the US Post Office in the summer of 1998. Don't forget to add a one cent stamp to it!
• Call or visit your nearest Organ Procurement Organization (OPO) and get some materials, flyers, or posters to hand out to your friends, display at your local library, business, etc. Also - ask the OPO how you can help them out for events, speaking engagements, and other volunteer opportunities. It is sooo worthwhile and you will meet a lot of great people!
• Speak at community functions such as service organizations (Elks, Rotary Kiwanis, VFW, and Lions Club), school (PTA, functions, nursery through college), scouting clubs (Boy/Girl Scouts, 4H, Camp Fire), religious functions (church, synagogue).
• Wear donor awareness items such as green lapel ribbons or articles such as buttons, shirts, or hats that have a donation message on them.
• Display answers to commonly asked questions about donation at your local merchants (bank, florist, grocery store, malls, pharmacy).
• Run an advertisement in your newspaper trade magazine or church bulletin.
• Put a donation bumper sticker on your car, child's stroller and bicycle.
• Write an editorial for your local newspaper discussing donation.
• Write to your local congressmen and other government officials.
• Implement a program with your employer to promote donation (enclose donor cards in payroll envelopes).
• Organize a bowling tournament weightlifting competition or golfing event.
• Ask your neighborhood distributors (Tupperware, Amway, Shaklee, Mary Kay, Avon) to enclose donation information in their brochures.
• Send donor cards with your correspondence (letters, bill payments, holiday greetings, birthday cards, business letters).
• Ask local merchants to add information on their sales register receipts.
• Implement a program with your mass transit, bridge or highway authority.
• Ask local movie theaters to display information on the movie screen, or hang posters in the lobby.
• Work with your transplant team to display information in hospital emergency rooms, cafeterias and clinics.
• Have a ceremony to plant a donor memorial garden and publicize the event.
• Post information at your library, community center, post office or other public place.
• Hand out donor cards at your local race track, carnival, grocery store, amusement park, concert, or theater.
• Most importantly, be sure to share your personal story with others .
• If you've had a transplant, tell people. If your child has, introduce him or her. It will help them visualize the miracle of transplantation and better understand the importance of organ donation.
• Ask them to discuss organ donation with their family and share their decision.
• Organ donation...it's the opportunity of a lifetime!
For the remainder of the month of April, Transplant Awareness, Inc. is reducing prices of Green Ribbon pins, Donor Stamp lapel pins $1.55 each for orders of 10 or more for either. Green Ribbons are a great conversation starter anywhere, many know about the pink or red but wonder what the green is for.
We have reduced the 50/50 tee's to $12.00 for medium, large and extra large,
and $14.00 for the 2 extra large. Order information is at www.transplantawareness.org
Claude Brady, Transplant Awareness, Inc.
UNOS: What can you do to celebrate the gift of life?
*Hold a donor drive to encourage individuals to sign donor cards and discuss their wishes with their families.
*Host a donor awareness workshop, prayer breakfast, or health fair with an information display on donation and presentations by living donors, donor families, transplant recipients, patients awaiting transplantation, or transplant professionals.
*Organize a candle lighting ceremony to honor living and nonliving donors, donor families and recipients.
*Visit living donors, recipients, and transplant candidates at your local hospital.
Spread the Word. . .
*Include donor information in your newsletter, bulletin, web site, or e-mail.
*Discuss organ/tissue donation in sermons and classes.
*Invite speakers to address your congregation, including members who want to share their own donation experiences.
*Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper about the critical need for organ and tissue donation.
Get Started. . .
*Decide who will organize your National Donor Sabbath and what you want to do.
*Team up with local organizations, such as organ procurement organizations, coalitions on donation, tissue and eye banks, and related voluntary associations.
*Contact Mary Ganikos, US Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, at (301) 443-7577 with any questions or to request materials. Or visit www.organdonor.gov for more information.
RESOURCES
Organ and Tissue Donation: A Reference Guide for Clergy, 3rd Edition; SEOPF/UNOS, Cooper, M.L. and Taylor, G., Eds., 1998. To order call 804 330-8500.
How to Promote Organ/Tissue Donation in the African American Church, New York Regional Transplant Program, 1996. To order call 212 870-2240 or 1-800-GIFT-4-NY.
Organ and Tissue Donation - A Present for the Future: A Guide for Religious Caregivers, Regional Organ Bank of Illinois. To order call 312 431-3600.
Thanks to the PBCers Organ Donor Awareness Committee
