Page 4 - Florida Sentinel 4-3-18

Local
Community Action Board Members, Staff Visit Capitol Hill
Hillsborough County Community Action Board (CAB) members and staff visited on Capitol Hill with Congresswoman Kathy Castor at the 2018 Legislative Conference. The Conference theme was “Mobilizing for Victory” as we protect the integrity of the CSBG funding of the pro- grams and to create new legislative opportunities for our Community Action Network.
In attendance were: left to right, Carla Lewis, City of Tampa; Faith Pullen, FACA Executive Director; Norene Copeland Miller, Hillsborough County CAB, Chair; Congresswoman Kathy Castor, Marie Theodore, Hillsborough County Social Services, and Rosa Hill, Tampa Housing Authority.
Florida’s Registry of Organ And Tissue Donors is Nation’s 3rd Largest
SARASOTA, FL – Donate Life Florida (DLF), a non- profit organization dedicated to empowering the public to save and enhance lives through organ, tissue and eye donation, announced a new record last Wednesday (March 28th). Ten million Floridians have signed up as donors through Florida’s Joshua Abbott Organ and Tissue Donor Registry, the third largest in the nation.
“We definitely want to pause for a moment and cel- ebrate this wonderful achievement, but we also want to remember that we still have so much work to do,” says Christopher Car- roll, Executive Director of Donate Life Florida. “There are approximately 115,000 people on America’s national organ transplant waiting list. We are asking more people to say, ‘Yes!’ and join Florida’s organ and tissue donor registry to help meet this need that continues to grow.”
The strength of Florida’s donor registry is due in large part to the work of the Florida Department of High- way Safety & Motor Vehicles (DHSMV) and Florida tax collector offices, where resi- dents completing driver li- cense transactions can sign up. Because of this partner- ship, 95 percent of the state’s 10 million registered organ donors have come through the state’s tax collectors and DHSMV.
Since the registry was es- tablished in 1997 – donors
who had registered prior to death made possible nearly 37,000 life-saving transplant surgeries in Florida. They helped heal even more through tissue donation. Their actions give hope to thousands of Floridians who are waiting today for organ, tissue and eye donation.
“We believe that, if more people in Florida understand how enormous the need is for the gift of life, then, more of them will join the reg- istry,” says Betsy Edwards, Senior Public Affairs Coordi- nator for LifeLink Founda- tion and Donate Life Florida Chairperson. “We have put incredible effort into educat- ing the public so more people understand the need and want to join the registry. Florida tax collector and DHSMV offices make it easy to sign up. Helping residents understand and decide they want to sign up has been our focus, and that clearly is pay- ing off. As long as there are people waiting for organ and tissue donations, we will con- tinue.”
“As West Florida’s feder- ally-designated organ pro- curement organization (OPO), LifeLink of Florida is honored to be a member pro- gram of Donate Life Florida and excited to join together with all of Florida’s OPOs, tissue and eye banks to cele- brate reaching this impres- sive milestone of 10 million registered donors in Florida,” says Liz Lehr, LifeLink of Florida Executive Director. “To accomplish our mission of providing a transplant for every patient who needs one, we will have to keep working. This milestone encourages us all to do just that.”
FYI
NCNW Meeting
The National Council of Negro Women, Tampa Met- ropolitan Section, will meet at 5815 34th Street, Tampa, on Saturday, April 7, 2018 at 10 a. m.
Please plan to attend and invite a friend to our “Annual Membership Tea.” Erma Griffin is Membership Chair.
Rosa Mckinzy Cam- bridge is President.
For additional informa- tion, contact number (813) 767-4639.
It’s A New Record:
10 Million In Florida Say ‘Yes!’
PAGE 4 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY TUESDAY, APRIL 3, 2018