Gift of Life is pleased to announce a landmark donor recruitment initiative underway in the New England states of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New Hampshire, and is seeking venues interested in hosting community drives. Legislators in these states have passed laws that have made it mandatory for most insurance companies operating in these states to pay for the tissue typing of potential donors.

 

“We commend the legislators for taking a leadership role in building the public bank of donors and saving the lives of critically ill patients in desperate need of bone marrow transplants,” commented Jay Feinberg, Gift of Life’s executive director and himself a transplant recipient. “We will focus our efforts to enroll eligible donors in New England and encourage people interested in hosting drives to contact us.”

 

Gift of Life is seeking support from Jewish communities in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island to host donor recruitment drives. Potential venues include synagogues, Jewish community centers, Jewish day schools and social service agencies. Drives can be conducted as stand-alone events or they can be held in conjunction with existing events such as mitzvah days, Jewish singles events (such as the Matzo Ball ), bar/bat mitzvahs and weddings, Jewish communal conferences and federated events.

 

If you would like to partner with Gift of Life on a donor recruitment drive in Massachusetts, Rhode Island or New Hampshire, please contact Suzi Fuld at 781-366-3297 or by email at sfuld@giftoflife.org. Registration is simple, involving a quick cheek swab and completion of a health history evaluation. Potential donors must be between the ages of 18-60 and in general good health. Donors must bring their health insurance cards with them to the drives.

 

An average of one in 1,000 of the fully typed donors in the Gift of Life Registry facilitate a transplant each year. The Talmud teaches us that to save one life is like saving the entire world. By hosting a Gift of Life donor drive, you will take a leadership role in the mitzvah of pikuach nefesh. It only takes one person to save a life. Could it be you?