Philadelphia, PA – Nearly 16,000 supporters from the greater Philadelphia region and beyond celebrated the ultimate act of generosity – organ donation – at the 28th Gift of Life Donor Dash on Sunday, April 27. Held annually, the Dash is one of the largest Donate Life Month events in the U.S., raising awareness of the urgent need for more registered donors to save lives.
Gift of Life announced that it exceeded its ambitious goal to add 50,000 people to the donor registry through a year-long campaign to honor its 50th anniversary. The grand total of 50,215 additional registered donors advances Gift of Life’s urgent mission to end the transplant waitlist.
“We’re grateful and inspired by the outstanding support of our community, which has long been one of the most generous for life-saving organ donation in the country. Thank you to all our sponsors, participants, volunteers and community partners for making our 28th Donor Dash a tremendous success,” said Richard D. Hasz, Jr., MFS, CPTC, President and CEO of Gift of Life Donor Program. “Everyone can help us build on this momentum by signing up as a donor, so that one day no one will die waiting for a transplant. Learn more at donors1.org.”
The Dash, held for the second time at the scenic and spacious Philadelphia Navy Yard, served as the climax of a one-year commemoration of Gift of Life Donor Program’s 50 years of service. Highlights included:
- Nearly 16,000 participants including about 200 transplant recipients who ran or walked to honor their donor hero
- 355+ Teams
- 250+ Volunteers
- $720,000+ raised
- Virtual Dash in 28 states, Washington, D.C. and Ireland
- Special live performance by hip-hop artist Philadelphia Freeway, a kidney transplant recipient, father of a donor hero and a member of the Gift of Life Community Advisory Board. Freeway brought on stage Phillip Davis, a middle school assistant principal, husband, father and kidney waitlist patient. They performed Davis’s song, “Gift of Life,” about his wait for a life-saving transplant.
- Tiffany Thurman, Chief of Staff to Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker
- Community Village with more than 20 organizations including Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Office of City Council President Kenyatta Johnson, Pa. House of Representatives, Pennie, Philadelphia Water Department, Teaching to Change Lives Inc. – Women of Wellness (W.O.W.), Indego and Skillz Group Inc.
Funds raised through the Dash support special programs for donor families and transplant recipients along with critically important public outreach to inspire more people to sign up as an organ donor. Gift of Life thanks all our community partners and grant program recipients who work with us to educate the public about the power of organ donation and help support our mission to end the transplant waitlist. Anyone who was not able to attend the Dash but would still like to donate may visit donordash.org.
This year’s expanded Donor Dash included 5K and 10K runs, a Kids Fun Run, lawn games, food trucks, community organizations and health resources. The emotional highpoint was a 3K walk featuring hundreds of teams, many in custom-designed team t-shirts, carrying colorful signs to honor donor heroes, celebrate transplant recipients who received a second chance at life and show support for patients on the transplant waitlist. In addition to Philadelphia Freeway, entertainment included the PME Drumline, DJ Doc B and the Philadelphia School of Rock.
The Donor Dash was started in 1996 by volunteer Claire Braverman, whose husband, Mickey, died waiting for a liver transplant. Today, more than 100,000 children and adults nationwide need an organ transplant to survive; 17 people die each day waiting.
The following generous sponsors made Gift of Life’s 28th Annual Donor Dash possible:
- Platinum Sponsor:
- MTF Biologics, Solvita
- Diamond Sponsors:
- AltruVision, Global Transplant Solutions, Quick Courier Service Inc., Organ Recovery Systems, Temple University Health System, Venture Jets
- Bronze Sponsors:
- Eurofins Donor & Product Testing, Gallagher Benefits Services, Jefferson Health, MJ Settelen, National Disease Research Interchange, Nationwide Organ Transport Alliance, Transplant Alliance Foundation, Penn Medicine Transplant Institute, Penn State Hershey, St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, Sovereign Insurance Group
- Parking:
- URBN, Ensemble, PIDC
- Supporters:
- AmeriHealth Caritas, Artivion, Inc., Bonus Days Magazine, Bridge to Life, ChristianaCare Kidney Transplant Program, Cornerstone Institutional Investors, Inc., Cohen, Placitella & Roth, P.C., Cozen O’Connor, Gillespie Electric, Inc., Main Line Health, Nemours Children’s Health, Riggs Distler, UPMC Pinnacle, Venable, Water’s Medical Systems, LLC, Wegmans
About Gift of Life Donor Program
Gift of Life Donor Program, founded in 1974 and headquartered in Philadelphia, is the federally designated organ procurement organization (OPO) for the eastern half of Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and Delaware serving 11.3 million people. It works with 124 acute care hospitals and 12 transplant centers in its region, as well as more than 100 transplant centers throughout the country, to provide the most comprehensive array of services available in the U.S. to the donation and transplantation community. Thanks to the generosity of its community, Gift of Life has coordinated 14,860 donors and 41,140 organs for transplant, the most of any OPO in the country since the inception of our national donation system in 1988. Overall, Gift of Life has coordinated more than 62,000 organs and more than two million tissue transplants since its founding. One organ donor can save the lives of up to eight people and a tissue donor can improve the lives of 100 others. Learn more and sign up at donors1.org.