Gift of Life and partner win national awards for donor awareness

Gift of Life Michigan

Gift of Life Michigan and the Donate Life Coalition of Michigan have been recognized nationally for 2014 initiatives to bolster awareness about organ, eye and tissue donation.

Both recieved 2015 Pinnacle Awards: Gift of Life’s was for its successful Libraries for Life campaign which tallied hundreds of registrations at Michigan libraries. The Donate Life Coalition was recognized for its world record gathering of 132 heart transplant recipients on Valentine’s Day.

Both Gift of Life and the coalition were honored by Donate Life America, a national non-profit organization committed to increasing the number of donated organs, eyes and tissue available to save and heal lives. They received two of 13 national awards given at a national conference in New Orleans.

The Pinnacle Awards recognize programs successful in inspiring more people to register as organ, eye and tissue donors and establish donation as a cultural norm.

2015 Pinnacle Award Recipients (please see attached sheet for more information on each award):

  • Education: Go Recycle Yourself Curriculum, Donate Life Northwest
  • Events: World Record for Largest Gathering of Heart Recipients, Donate Life Coalition of Michigan
  • Hospitals: Health Care for Hope, Donor Network of Arizona
  • Media: Vinny Castilla NMDAW Hispanic Media Tour, Donor Alliance
  • PR & Marketing: My Hero Said Yes! Branding and Advertising Campaign, Donor Alliance
  • Volunteers: Designing an Effective Volunteer Program, LifeLink Foundation
  • Miscellaneous and Special Game Changer: Swipe to Donate Life, Donor Network of Arizona
  • Best Remix: Campus Challenge “YOLO: Your Organs Live On,” Donor Network of Arizona
  • DMV and Innovation: Love Life Mobile Photo Studio Pack, Donate Life Maryland
  • Affinity and Platinum: Michigan Libraries for Life, Gift of Life Michigan

Congratulations to the following organizations for inspiring more individuals to say “yes!”

To find out more about Donate Life America and/or to register as an organ, eye and tissue donor, please visit www.donatelife.net.

###

About Donate Life America

Donate Life America is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit alliance of national organizations and Donate Life State Teams across the United States committed to increasing the number of donated organs, eyes and tissue available to save and heal lives. Donate Life America manages and promotes the national brand for donation, Donate LifeSM; develops and executes effective multi-media donor education programs; motivates the American public to register now as organ, eye and tissue donors; and assists Donate Life State Teams and national partners in facilitating high-performing donor registries.

Pinnacle Award Recipients

Education: Go Recycle Yourself Curriculum, Donate Life Northwest (DLNW)

Digital, CCS and STEM-aligned curriculum, designed to specifically serve science, health careers, health, and driver education teachers and their students by creating a classroom-friendly resource that leverages the popular GoRecycleYourself.com brand and helps advance youth outreach efforts.

Events: World Record for Largest Gathering of Heart Recipients, Donate Life Coalition of Michigan

Collaborative coalition project that created a single two-hour event raising astronomical awareness and good will about donation. 132 recipients were in one room – and thousands more were touched by this incredible Valentine’s Day event that is now an official part of history.

Hospitals: Health Care for Hope, Donor Network of Arizona

Successful campaign to engage hospital and non-hospital healthcare organizations to register Arizonans as organ, eye and tissue donors and increase hospital involvement in the promotion of a positive culture surrounding donation amongst their staff and immediate community.

Media: Vinny Castilla NMDAW Hispanic Media Tour, Donor Alliance

Hispanic media tour with Vinny Castilla (MLB All-Star) during National Minority Donor Awareness Week that took place the same week that the Colorado Road and Community Safety Act (CO-RCSA SB251) enacted immigrant driver’s licenses and ID cards. The media tour tied-in the conversation with the Hispanic media around the new law for driver’s licenses for undocumented residents and the opportunity people have to sign up as organ, eye and tissue donors when obtaining their licenses and ID cards.

PR & Marketing: My Hero Said Yes! Branding and Advertising Campaign, Donor Alliance

Marketing campaign designed to both catch the attention of and educate residents who had not registered as donors — and also re-engage the approximately 2/3rds who have registered — by focusing on the real stories of local residents profoundly impacted by organ and tissue donation.

Volunteers: Designing an Effective Volunteer Program, LifeLink Foundation

The Donate Life ORGANizer program helps increase donor registration rates and creates a positive culture of donation in local communities. The program continues to grow with consistency in recruiting, training, donation education, and recognition.

Miscellaneous and Special Game Changer: Swipe to Donate Life, Donor Network of Arizona

Swipe to Donate Life is an application (app) available for Apple devices that allows a user to capture donor

information and add donor registrations directly and securely to the DonateLifeAZ Registry.

Best Remix: Campus Challenge “YOLO: Your Organs Live On”, Donor Network of Arizona

DNA successfully partnered with universities throughout the state to be a part of their Welcome Week events. Playing off of the popular pop-culture saying, ”YOLO” (You Only Live Once), by encouraging students to “Make YOLO Mean More” by registering as and organ, eye and tissue donor – changing the meaning to, “YOLO -Your Organs Live On.”

DMV and Innovation: Love Life Mobile Photo Studio Pack, Donate Life Maryland (DLMD)

DLMD launched the “Love Life” Pack with a free Studio app. People waiting at the DMV were encouraged to add some “life” to their photos for free in the Studio app by creating inspirational images for themselves, because “life is meant to be shared.”

Affinity and Platinum: Michigan Libraries for Life, Gift of Life Michigan

Campaign designed to both encourage donor designations and share information about donation to create a “culture of trusted donation expectation” utilizing a trusted community resource (network of trust) – the local library.

Read More Posts

Dr. Tim Frankel is leading critical research into deadly pancreatic cancer with the help of organ donors from Gift of Life Michigan.

Gift of Life organ donors provide the ‘holy grail’ of pancreatic cancer research

Groundbreaking Michigan Medicine partnership ‘has the potential to help thousands’  Dr. Tim Frankel is in…

Read More
Donor mom Kathy Vogelsang holding a framed photo of her daughter, Rebecca

A donor mom becomes leader in the donation community

Kathy Vogelsang lends vision as chair of Gift of Life’s Governing Board  Kathy Vogelsang said…

Read More
Sheila Alston has worked as a nurse for more than 40 years

Sheila Alston has been saving and healing lives for 40 years

As a busy manager in Detroit-area hospital emergency departments back in the 1990s and early…

Read More
Tim Schramm holding a photo of his father, Ray, in military uniform

“Precious gifts saved my dad.”

One family’s story of tragedy, skin donation and 26 years of borrowed time Roy Schramm…

Read More
A donor is wheeled into Gift of Life's operating room on a gurney.

The Facts: The organ donation process

Making the decision to become an organ donor upon your death is the first step…

Read More
A physician consults with the family member of a patient.

The Facts: What is first person authorization?

Choosing to sign up on the Michigan Organ Donor Registry gives you the opportunity to…

Read More
Scroll to Top