As spring approaches, many Chapters are preparing to compete in Rowan University’s National Organ Donor Awareness Competition (NODAC). For the past 16 years, Rowan University PRSSA asks other Chapters nationwide to create an awareness campaign to promote organ and tissue donation on their college campuses. The goals of the competition include:
• Increase awareness and understanding of organ and tissue donation among college students.
• Encourage students to discuss organ and tissue donation with family and friends.
• Promote the facts and benefits of organ and tissue donation and clarify any myths that might hinder students from becoming donors.
Rowan will announce the winners at the PRSSA 2012 National Conference. Four Chapters will receive a cash prize in addition to recognition at the awards dinner.
NODAC models Rowan’s own annual Organ Donor Day. This year, our Chapter celebrates 19 years of saving lives and promoting awareness.
Twenty-one years ago our Chapter’s founder, Anthony J. Fulginiti, APR, Fellow PRSA, received a kidney transplant from his sister. Two years later, the Chapter hosted its first Organ Donor Day in recognition of the importance of organ donation. This event regularly generates media coverage, and focuses attention on the more than 113,000 people waiting to receive a life-saving transplant. While each day 18 people die waiting for a transplant, there remains hope; it only takes one donor to save up to eight lives.
Don’t miss this “life-saving” opportunity to promote organ donation awareness! Your Chapter must submit the Intent to Enter form by March 9, 2012. Visit the NODAC information on the PRSSA website for more information.
You can also follow Rowan’s Organ Donor Day on Facebook and Twitter.
Cheryl Resnick is the Organ Donor Day Committee Chair and VP of Operations at PRaction, Rowan University’s student-run public relations firm.