Jennifer Moe
Director of Communications/PR
Donor Alliance
303-329-4747
CU BUFFS AND CSU RAMS COMPETE IN COLORADO’S 2010 RECYCLE YOURSELF CAMPUS CHALLENGE
DENVER—August 23, 2010—Students at the University of Colorado and Colorado State University will extend their rivalry for a lifesaving cause and compete in Colorado’s 2010 Recycle Yourself Campus Challenge. During the Challenge, which runs from Monday, August 23 through Friday, September 3, each campus will compete to register as many students, staff and alumni as possible to be organ, eye and tissue donors. The winning school will be announced at the Saturday, September 4 CU vs.CSU football game at Invesco Field.
“This contest provides the opportunity for students to take action and meet the needs of the more than 108,000 Americans and 2,000 people in Colorado and Wyoming who are currently waiting for a lifesaving organ transplant,” said Sue Dunn, president and chief operating officer of Donor Alliance, the federally designated organ procurement organization and American Association of Tissue Banks (AATB) accredited tissue bank serving Colorado and most of Wyoming. “Of those waiting in Colorado, 64 percent are in need of a kidney and one out of five current transplant candidates have been on the waiting list for five years or longer.”
According to Dunn, out-of-state students who are already registered as organ and tissue donors in their home states should also register their decision in Colorado.
CU will have donor designation booths set up on August 23 and 24 at Baker and Hallet Halls as well a at College Inn. CSU will have donor designation booths set up on August 23 and August 24 at the Plaza Bazaar and on August 25 and 26 at the Flea Market.
Students, staff and alumni can also register their decision as organ, eye and tissue donors at
www.DonateLifeColorado.org. For respective schools to get credit, registrants must select ‘BUFFS Recycle’ or ‘RAMS Recycle’ from the drop down list on the online form.
“Many times, we college students don’t think about issues like donation because we feel invincible,” explained Talbot Fucci, CU’s president of students for organ donation. “But as the son of a heart recipient and as someone who may need a heart transplant myself someday, I know that donation does make a difference. I encourage all students, staff and alumni who have not yet registered to register their decision today to be an organ, eye and tissue donor. Each donor has the potential to save up to eight lives through organ donation and heal more than 100 through the gift of tissue donation.”
Coloradans can register and save lives as organ donors regardless of their age or health. For example, it is possible to register as a donor even after having suffered from common diseases like diabetes or cancer.
How to register to be an organ and tissue donor:
You can save a life by registering to be an organ, eye and tissue donor. Register online at DonateLifeColorado.org; at the Division of Motor Vehicles the next time you obtain or renew your driver’s license; or by calling 1-888-256-4386 and requesting a donor registry form.
We are pleased to announce the creation of Colorado’s new specialty Donate Life license plate. CLICK HERE.
The latest issue of our quarterly newsletter is available for download as a PDF.
DOWNLOAD OUR CURRENT ISSUE NOW
For more information on becoming a Donor Alliance Volunteer, CLICK HERE.
