Donate Life Illinos: McLean County

Missed the meeting? Catch up here!

Minutes for Donate Life Illinois (McLean County) volunteer meeting
2/19/08

Volunteers present:
Bonnie Crutchley (ISU student insurance and donor sister), Sarah King (IWU student and recipient's daughter), Maureen McLeod (State Farm and donor mom), Susan Brown (St. John's Lutheran church and donor mom), Damarius Blanks (Illinois secretary of state's office), Lisa Keezer (OSF-St. Francis and recipient), Moreena Tiede (Our Chinese Daughters Foundation and recipient's mom)

Heeellllllpppppp

Please note that I've updated the calendar in the sidebar with our new events. Thanks, everyone, for volunteering to cover these health fairs, since Damarius is going to be out for a few months around that time (send us photos of the new baby!).

Damarius wrote to me that the organizers of the ISU International Family Fest (on Sat., Feb. 23) have requested that the booths have some sort of family-friendly activity or focus. I have some coloring sheets from Life Goes On, and some tattoos from the Illinois Eye Bank, and some pencils. However, I thought we might make an effort to actually make the table fit in to the goal of the festival. So I thought we'd make the theme something like "Transplants: Modern Medicine in the US"

I'll bring some of my books which explain transplants in a kid-friendly manner, and I've got an educational activity the kids can do there at the table. I'll make a sign that says "No ears or toes! Which organs can be transplanted? Can you put them in the proper place in the body?" I've got an outline of the human body (I'll  bring 100 copies or so), and we'll have paper lungs, livers, hearts, kidneys, etc. that the kids can tape (double-sided) into the outline. I'll provide an example of the finished project.

So we'll have an actual educational, useful, hands-on activity to offer (kids looooove tape) ! However, this plan will not work with only one volunteer per shift at the table. We'll need one person to supervise the kid's activity (pulling off tape, or however we decide to stick the organs in), and one person to  handle the registration (we can ask the parents if they're registered while their kids are occupied).

So far, only Maureen and I have signed up. If we could get at least 2 more volunteers (and preferably 4), then we could make this work. The event is from 12-4, and you could work a 1 or 2-hour shift, depending on  your availability. Let me know as soon as possible (moreenaATgmailDOTorg) if you can help!

(Big thanks to Charley Parker, the artist behind The Interactive Body animation at The Gift of a Lifetime,
who provided the drawings for this project. He's also a kidney transplant recipient, and the artist behind the fabulous web comic, Argon Zark!).

upcoming meetings:
Feb. 19, 6 pm, DLI volunteer meeting at St. John's Lutheran church
Feb. 21, 1:30 pm, LGO meeting, also at St. John's Lutheran church

LGO newsletter from Liz Hager

LIFE GOES ON IN MC LEAN COUNTY AREA PREPARES FOR NATIONAL DONATE LIFE MONTH

Once again residents of Bloomington/Normal and the surrounding areas are preparing to recognize April as National Donate Life Month.  The Secretary of State’s Life Goes On Committee, along with Donate Life Illinois is planning events to remember those who donated organs and tissue, celebrate the new lives of those who received transplants and help those who are waiting for life-saving or life-enhancing organs, tissue and corneal transplants.

The purpose of the month long effort is to encourage everyone to join the Secretary of State’s Donor Registry and by doing so, help others to live. 

 

Volunteer training and orientation

Here's the information about the upcoming volunteer training session. Please RSVP as soon as possible.

Because I know we are all short on time, why don't we plan on having our March DLI meeting over lunch at this training session?

March 8th, 2008 – Lincoln, IL

Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital

315 8th St., Lincoln, IL

9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

(Directions from Bloomington:

I-55 S to exit 133 toward Lincoln
Turn left at I-55-BL W
Turn left at N Union St
Turn right at 8th St

map found here)

At these volunteer trainings you will learn about Donate Life Illinois, what it means to volunteer and attend breakout sessions presented by DLI Staff discussing Blood and Bone Marrow Donation, Cornea Donation and a general donation session. Additionally, you will meet with other volunteers to discuss up-coming programs in your local area. After lunch, you will have the opportunity to share your story and participate in a speaker training.

Please take a moment right now and sign up for the Donate Life Illinois Volunteer Trainings by contacting Veronica Moreno at 630-758-2799 or vmoreno@giftofhope.org.

Pantagraph article

Wendy emailed me the link to this article in last Thursday's Pantagraph. In case you missed it:

Organ donor list grows to 3.2 million

Women's Night Out

Life Goes On will have a donor registration table from 3-8 pm at the Women's Night Out event at the Interstate Center. This is a well attended event, and we should make an effort to help them run the table. However, it is scheduled for the same night as our next meeting, Tuesday, February 26.

Any objections to moving the meeting to Thursday, February 28 at 6 pm, instead?

Please contact Sherry Galbreath at

sgalbreathATbromennDOTorg

if you can volunteer an hour of your time to help out (of course, replace the AT and the DOT--I'm trying to thwart the spammers--ha!).

Life Goes On committee minutes

Here are the minutes for the LGO meeting. I know many of the Donate Life volunteers are unable to make meetings in the middle of the day, but it is probably a good idea to try to coordinate our efforts. In particular, you can let us know if you are able to help out with any of the projects LGO is planning for the month of April. For example, if you work at State Farm or Country Companies, you might be able to help Dan Clark and Nicole Hoffman set up registration tables there.

---

      The McLean County Area Life Goes On Committee met at St. John’s Lutheran Church on January 28, 2008 with the following persons present:  Dave Hearn; Sherry Galbreath; Cindy Patterson; Liz Hager; Nicole Hoffman; Larry Daghe; Moreena Tiede; Dan Clark; Mike Matejka; Kirk Ijams; Jessica Junis; Damarius Blanks; Dianne Kelley; Lisa Keezer; and Gina Martin.

February Meetings

update: We will move our February meeting to Thursday, 2/28, at 6pm to avoid conflict with Women's Night Out, pending confirmation of the space by Susan Brown.

The next meeting for Donate Life Illinois McLean County volunteers is Tuesday, February 26, at 6p.m. at St. John's Lutheran Church at 1617 Emerson, Bloomington, IL 61701.

The Life Goes On committee will be meeting on Thursday, February 21 at 1:30 pm, also at St. John's Lutheran Church.

Damarius and I will do our best to make sure that the information from the two groups is shared so we can coordinate our efforts for April, National Donate Life Month.

Hope to see you there!