In three months, thousands of individuals from the tri-state area will join together in honor of life, love, and the ultimate gift a person can give-a second chance. The 18th Annual Dash for Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness will take place on Sunday, April 21st 2013, during National Donate Life Month. Learn how the participants of our annual event have helped us make strides in donation in our community.
The Dash for Organ and Tissue Donor Awareness is a collection of different courses, 10-kilometer and 5-kilometer runs, and a 3-kilometer walk designed to help promote organ and tissue donation and highlight the success of transplantation. All the distances depart from the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and continue along West River Drive and the banks of the Schuylkill River, drawing participants such as transplant candidates, transplant recipients and family members, hospital personnel, donor family members and the general public.
The Dash was first created in memory of Mickey Braverman, a liver transplant candidate who died before receiving a transplant. Mickey’s widow, Claire, wanted the event to raise public awareness about the 18 people who die each day nationally while waiting for an organ transplant. Claire wanted to ensure that no other family had to go through the pain of watching a loved one die because an organ was not available.
That first Dash was held in April 1996, with 800 people and raised $17,000 for public education programs. But over the years, the event has grown vastly: In 2011, more than 7,000 people helped Gift of Life raise over $500,000 for educational outreach initiatives. In 2012, Dash participants raised over $650,000.000, and we are hoping for another stellar year of fundraising in 2013.
The funds that you raise will help us to bring awareness about the need for organ and tissue donation, highlight the success of transplantation and raise money to help support public awareness campaigns that take place throughout the year.
So grab your sneakers, spread the word to your friends and commit to join us Dash for all of those affected by transplant- past, present and future.
Tags: dash, dash for organ and tissue donation awareness, Donor Family, fundraising, gift of life, Gift of Life Donor Program, mickey braverman, multicultural outreach, organ donation, organ donor, philadelphia art museum, philadelphia running, tissue donor, volunteer, youth outreach
i am walking in honor of my daughter patricia ann murray who donated her organs on 7-12-10 she saved 4 lives in her death she left behind 5 baby girls she was just 26 yrs old a sudden brain anurysm