Jennifer Moe
Director of Communications/PR
Donor Alliance
303-329-4747
DONOR ALLIANCE SPONSORS COLORADAN TO RIDE IN THE 2009 TOURNAMENT OF ROSES PARADE REPRESENTING ORGAN AND TISSUE DONATION
Donor Mother to Inspire Parade Viewers Worldwide to Donate Life While Honoring her Daughter
DENVER—December 30, 2008—Donor Alliance will sponsor Melody Connett to ride on the 2009 Donate Life Rose Parade float in honor of her daughter Jill who gave the gift of life in 2003, when she became an organ donor. Melody will join twenty-five other float riders, each a transplant recipient, living donor or family member of an organ, eye or tissue donor, in the 120th Tournament of Roses Parade. Jill will be honored visually by one of 38 floragraphs (artistic portraits created with floral materials) and the only from Colorado that will adorn the sixth Donate Life float entry, “Stars of Life.” The Rose Parade, themed ‘Hats Off To Entertainment,’ will take place Thursday, January 1, 2009 at 9 a.m. (MST) in Pasadena, CA.
“Donor Alliance is honored to be sponsoring Melody as a rider on the 2009 Donate Life Rose Parade float, not only in honor of her daughter Jill, but representing the more than 1,800 people who currently await an organ transplant in Colorado,” said Sue Dunn, president and CEO of Donor Alliance, the non-profit organ procurement organization serving Colorado and most of Wyoming. “Melody had the opportunity to meet the recipient of Jill’s liver, Carole Pirri, at Donor Alliance’s signature event, the Donor Dash, in 2006 and we are pleased to send Carole to Pasadena as well, to cheer Melody on from the grandstands.”
More than 28,000 lives are saved each year in the U.S. through the gift of organ donation, giving hope to the more than 100,000 people awaiting a lifesaving organ transplant. In Colorado and Wyoming, more than 1,800 people are on the waiting list. A single organ donor can save the lives of up to 8 others and 100 lives can be saved and healed by a single tissue donor.
“Jill’s decision to register to be an organ and tissue donor, which she indicated on her driver’s license, came as no surprise- she was always looking for ways to help others,” explained Connett. “Her final selfless gift has enabled Carole to live a happy and healthy life and has given me a restored connection to the future that was broken upon her death. I am grateful to Donor Alliance who chose me to ride in the 2009 parade and hope to encourage the millions of viewers to follow Jill’s example and save lives by registering to be organ and tissue donors.”
In addition to the 38 floragraph honorees and 26 riders, the float will also carry dozens of white stars representing those who have been touched by donation, while four transparent stars will symbolize those in need of donated organs, corneas and tissue. The large orange-yellow stars at the front of the float will carry more than 1,000 roses dedicated through the Family Circle program, with each carrying a personal message of love, gratitude and hope to a donor, recipient or candidate in need of a transplant. Last year, dedicated roses came from all 50 states and 21 countries.
We are pleased to announce the creation of Colorado’s new specialty Donate Life license plate. CLICK HERE.
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