Email us at StateSaves7@yahoo.com to be guided through the simple, quick, written process!
Following is an article which didn't make it to the Statesman (the VSU newspaper), yet we'd like to share it with you and maybe some local papers might still pick it up! It includes some experiences of people right here on campus who have recieved and decided to give:
Who Would You Give Your Heart To?
What started as a class project leads a group of VSU students to saving over 280 lives
Sexual assault, alcohol awareness, controversially confederate history- April has its share of jackets to wear for the month. Now along with the many causes, as of 2010 under the presidency of Barack Obama, the United States can add “National Donate Life Month” to the list.
According to the Save7Lives.org website, where online registration is handled for donors in the state of Virginia, three Virginians die each week waiting for a life-saving organ transplant that doesn’t come in time and more than 2,000 people are currently awaiting a life-saving organ transplant.
In light of this, four junior, Mass Communications majors, Kwamesha Addison, Nichelle Broner, Rayna James, and Briana Williams, came together with LifeNet Health to do their part and make a difference.
On Thursday, April 22nd, 2010, a group formed by them named “StateSaves7” partnered with the Department of Student Activities to hold a rally to inform fellow students about donating and encouraging them to register to officially be organ, eye and tissue donors.
Filling the student lobby of Foster Hall with food, music, and give-a-ways, they reached a goal of forty registrations in a mere three hours.
“This was challenging”, stated Rayna James. “People were so stuck on the myths they had heard, and a fear of accepting that they will one day face mortality that it was selfishly stopping them from potentially saving the lives of seven other people.”
One person may save seven others because of the fact that by registering to be a donor, one offers their heart, liver, two kidneys, a pair of lungs, pancreas and small intestine and may improve the lives of 50 due to tissue donation, and help 10 more by being an eye donor.
Although reading this may make it feel like a rare occasion, majority do not know that there is a vast amount of transplant recipients right here on the campus, including Coach Deandre Neil, director of Student Activities. Coach Neil was a recipient of a kidney from a young girl who was in a car accident. “I think it’s very important that people are aware of this issue on college campuses and across the U.S….I’d do anything to be able to give her back the kidney and allow her to live instead…[but she was able to] give someone else a life, or at least a better quality of life.”
This experience still was not enough to change the minds of all. Dawn Matthews, junior, Mass Communications major, decided not to because of the idea that “if they see it they are not going to resuscitate me, and also it’s just weird to think of someone cutting into my body.”
Kayon Grizzle, sophomore, Political Science major, gave the group a hard time. She supported donating but did not want to make it official out of the same fears. Like others, with proper information, and real life testimonies, she eventually gave her information and signed her heart declaring seven people she cared about and could potentially be saving.
Certificates will be given to Abstrakt Ent., The Betterment of Brothers and Sisters, and Sista2Sista, the top three participating organizations at the rally for their contribution of registrations from their active members.
If there is anyone who still wishes to register who missed the event, it is never too late. Visit statesaves7.blogspot.com for more information, or contact members of the group directly at StateSaves7@yahoo.com and they will personally assist you with confirming your decision.
