ANN ARBOR, MI— Thanks to friendly rivalries of students at 14 Michigan colleges and universities, more than 1,600 Michigan residents signed up on the Michigan Organ Donor Registry in the past five weeks.
The 14th annual Gift of Life Michigan Campus Challenge had students competing to sign up the most people as organ, tissue and eye donors. Success was achieved by staffing tables on campus, sharing clever graphics on social media, publishing articles in school newspapers and sharing facts about donation with friends and family.
When the competition ended on February 22, two schools came out ahead. For the sixth straight year, Wayne State University signed up the most new donor registrants (522) in the Campus Challenge. And for the second year in a row, the WMU Homer Stryker, M.D. School of Medicine signed up the most new donors compared with its student population (29 percent). Both schools will receive trophies in celebration of their achievements.
“We are thrilled with the results of this college donor drive competition. Through their efforts to sign up residents on the Donor Registry, these students have given the gift of hope to the 3,527 Michigan patients currently waiting for an organ transplant and tens of thousands more in need of tissue and eye transplants,” said Dorrie Dils, chief executive officer of Gift of Life Michigan.
The Gift of Life Campus Challenge is one of the most successful organ donation college outreach programs in the nation and has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services for its exceptional results. Since its inception in 2004, the Gift of Life Campus Challenge has inspired almost 40,000 people to join the state’s Donor Registry.
Gift of Life Michigan is the state’s federally designated organ and tissue recovery organization, which acts as intermediary between donors, their families and hospital staff. Gift of Life Michigan, in collaboration with Eversight Michigan, provides all services necessary for organ, tissue and eye donation.
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· A full list of participating colleges and universities, and their final scores in the Campus Challenge, is available at giftoflifemichigan.org/campuschallenge
· Student leaders on each campus are available for interviews. Please contact Jennifer Tislerics at Gift of Life Michigan, jtislerics@giftoflifemichigan.org or 734-922-1048.
