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June 06 May 06 April 06 March 06 February 06 January 06

June 06

Greetings everyone!

A fellow volunteer, Shelly Morell, has a great idea to raise awareness and money. Her mom is a lung recipient and her aunt is heart recipient, so she really is motivated to increase donation. She would like to create a transplant cookbook with various recipes from all of you. If you have a favorite family recipe or specialty, please send her your recipe to: smorell@wowway.com

Please also include your name and how you are connected to donation/transplantation.\

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I would like to put together a Donate Life Coalition team for LIFE Walk 2006. If anyone would like to join me, please say the word. Let's show our support and get those registrations in! Please let me know by June 20 if you would like to be on the Coalition team. We may even have Donate LIfe t-shirts for all to wear, if we have enough in stock. Team registrations forms with checks are due by July 7. It is $20 per team member (early registration, $25 that day.)

I understand some of you are already committed to other teams. Great. I just wanted to make sure everyone knew they were invited to join us! We will also have an info table set up as well. If you would like to work the table, rather than walk, I will need two volunteers for this as well. Please let me know.

LIFE Walk is Saturday, July 22, 2006 starting with registration at 8:30 p.m.

Walk starts at 9:30 a.m. on Belle Isle in Detroit.

visit www.motteplifewalk.org for more info.

As well, I wanted to let everyone know that I will be sending the spring communication discussed in May to all members, complete with updates on everything we know. (This communication will replace a spring meeting.) It has been a very busy first half of the year for the Coalition and I look forward to filling you in.

However, please note, a fall meeting will be scheduled soon and it will be very important that all members make every effort to be at this fall meeting.

Have a great week,

Peggy Burkhard

(248) 366-6661

May 06

It is with pleasure and thanks that I report to you that ALIVE '06 was a huge success! The award recipients were outstanding, the food, desserts and drink were fabulous, the crowds were lively and generous, the press terrific, the hard working volunteers superb, the sponsors were proud and most importantly, the cause was recognized! We even had 30 new people register online. Special thanks once again to Park West Gallery, of course!!

ALIVE has really defined itself and I see it becoming more and more successful on many different levels each year. Thanks for your role in making this happen.

So far, calculations show that ALIVE '06 grossed about $30,000, and netted about $22,000 although money continues to trickle in. A final number should be in by June 1.

Thanks so very much to all of you. What a terrific group effort!!

For those of you who could not make it, we sure missed you. Hope to see you there next year. Sincere thanks to our outstanding Planning Committee members. If anyone would like a copy of the program for a sponsor or potential sponsor for ALIVE '07, please let me know. Event photos will be available after a meeting with the Gallery, set for next week. Sally Gerak will be running a nice piece on ALIVE this Sunday, May 21 in the Observer Eccentric for those who want to check it out.

Although we are thrilled with the success of ALIVE '06, we must continue to find concrete ways to keep the Coalition vital and financially sound in order to educate the public and raise much needed awareness. If anyone has any ideas that they would like to share in 2006, please do not hesitate to contact us. Your assistance is always valued and appreciated. If anyone hears of opportunities, shout!

Cathy and I now prepare to dedicate more time to upcoming projects and still need to thank so many who helped with ALIVE '06. As always, we need your help and support. If there is anyone you would like to thank as well and would like some letterhead to do so, please say so.

A few other updates for you:

General Membership Meeting: We've decided to skip the spring meeting and instead report to all of you either electronically or through an upcoming mailing the beginning of June. We feel confident that at this time, a communication will free up much needed time and still be able to keep you all updated. There will be a fall meeting, date to be determined. Note: ALIVE '06 has become a wonderful chance for all of us to meet in the spring, something we did not do before ALIVE '04. Please keep your eyes open for this upcoming early June communication with many dates to save. In the meantime, here are a few timely reminders.

Wrap up Meeting for ALIVE '06 Planning Committee: There will be a wrap up meeting at my (Peggy's) Commerce Township home on Monday, June 5, 2006 at 6 p.m. If you would like to join our committee in 2007 and would like to join us, please contact me. We would love to have your input and support!

We are gearing up for the Country Music Festival in Saginaw on Saturday, June 17, 2006. Volunteers are needed in the Children's Area, where our Children's Mural will be showcased. More info will follow. Contact Cathy or I if interested in helping out. I just received word from Tami Watchorn, of 98 FM/MacDonald Broadcasting Group that the radio spots Dow Chemical has graciously included our life-saving message in sound GREAT. As well, Dow Chemical is financing this very nice mural for us, complete with our Donate Life logo, enabling all that visit the Children's Area to learn more about organ donation and paint a portion of the mural. The mural is ours to keep after the Festival too. Special thanks to Tami Watchorn.

Grant Update: We are still awaiting word on the Humana grant we applied for this spring. Fingers are crossed.

Dental Journal Magazines: Thanks to Dr. George Magulak (and Dr. John Cameron) we were able to get an article about organ donation published along with a Gift of Life Michigan brochure insert in more than 8,000 copies of the Journal of the Michigan Dental Association. The Coalition paid for the inserts and right on the front cover, there is a banner that reads: INSIDE: HOW TO GIVE THE GIFT OF LIFE. If anyone would like a copy, please let me know.

Walk Updates

National Kidney Foundation of Michigan’s Detroit Zoo Walk, Sunday, May 21st

A huge thank you goes out to our members who are volunteering their time at this Sunday’s Detroit Zoo Walk in support of the National Kidney Foundation of Michigan!! All volunteer positions have been filled. If you are still interested in helping out, there are two ways for you to show your support:

- Collect some pledges and come out for a fun morning at the Zoo. Contact Cathy for a Pledge

envelope. Registration starts at 8:00am; the Walk starts at 9:00am

- Send your check made payable to National Kidney Foundation of Michigan to Cathy Warren at 4532 Chadsworth Street, Commerce, MI 48382. I will submit all donations received to NKFM from our Coalition.

Visit www.nkfm.org to see all the detail regarding this year’s Zoo Walk.

Gift of Life MOTTEP’s LIFE Walk, Saturday, July 22^nd

Let’s show our support of this wonderful donation awareness walk on Belle Isle. Start forming your team(s) now. Get a group from work, from your neighborhood, from your church or from your family. If you are interested in becoming a part of the Donate Life Coalition of Michigan team, please email Cathy. A summary of the event details is listed below. You can visit www.motteplifewalk.org to see all the details regarding this year’s walk. I’ve attached a LIFE Walk flyer as well. Feel free to print it and post it where ever you think there will be interest.

WHAT:	5K Walk / Fun Run (Optional 1 mile route)
WHEN:	Saturday, JULY 22, 2006
TIME:	8:30 AM - Registration / 9:30 AM - Walk/Run Start
WHERE:	Historic Belle Isle Park - Detroit, MI Belle Isle Casino Area The Belle Isle Casino is NOT a gambling facility.
COST:	$20.00 EARLY & ONLINE REGISTRATION FEE (To qualify for early registration, the registration form shall be received/postmarked by July 7, 2006. All online registrations qualify for the $20.00 registration fee.) $25.00 Late Registration Fee (After July 7, 2006, registrations for LIFE Walk will be accepted the day of the event )

Thanks again for all your support of our Coalition and of our members’ events. Please email or call Cathy Warren if you have any questions 248-366-7301 or 248-701-2323(cell) or mmcc589@sbcglobal.net.

Oeggy can be reached at (248) 366-6661 or by cell at (248) 770-5172.

Enjoy the SUNSHINE J We haven’t seen much of it lately.

Cathy Warren and Peggy Burkhard

April 2006

Before I get started, Neal Rubin is making a last minute (better than no minute, as he stated) at promoting ALIVE '06 on page 1E in the Detroit News today. (Lila, check it out!) Wow, thanks so very much Neal!

As well, be sure to watch Fox 2 all week. Sean Lee, Lila's producer, Lila and their entire crew are hard at work promoting our cause and ALIVE '06 on Channel 2. Special thanks to HOUR Magazine and Suzanne and her crew at Smooth Jazz for all the promos, interviews and sponsors too! Thanks Paul Snider at WWJ for all you do.

Little Shay Ziff's scheduled follow up story with Lila is slated to run today and the Sisco donor family first time reunion story will air on Friday. There is one more pivotal story about a waiting kidney recipient, I am almost certain, that will run tomorrow. Be sure to tune in ALL WEEK. If anyone can tape the segments, please do so.

Thank you! I would like to sincerely thank you all for all of the hard work and teamwork that has gone into making ALIVE '06 what it is. Wow, so many of you are volunteering at the event, sponsoring the event, bringing friends to the event and yeah, spreading the word about the event. Thanks Planning Committee, Thanks Members, Thanks everyone!

We still have tickets available at the door and any last minute PUSH will be greatly appreciated. If someone wants to call in an order to me today or tomorrow at (248) 366-6661 or cell (248) 770-5172, they can then simply pick up their tickets at will call and avoid purchasing them at the door--although that will be easy enough as well. My fax is (248) 366-9871. Faxed orders can be received until 10 a.m. Thursday only.

Wait until you see the auction and goody bags! (Special thanks to Cathy Warren, Lenore Dorfman and Lisa Ziff--incredibe job!) Special thanks to Shannon Jackson, Mike Stevens, Morrie Shapiro and Jennifer Carey at the Gallery. Wow, they are so good at what they do. Thanks in advance to all of you--Lisa Langley for the Volunteer Coordinator efforts, Jennifer Tislerics for the front door registration, Dr. Granger for being the "I will do anything--what do you need now? go to person!" The list goes on and I will be sure to catch everyone with thanks post event. (If I missed you, I'll get you later.:))

It is going to be a great night on Thursday and that is because of all of you!!

Peggy Burkhard (and Cathy Warren)

(248) 770-5172 cell

Cathy cell (248) 701-2323

Greetings Media Friends,

Looking forward to working with you to promote April, National Donate Life Month!

Let me know if there is anything you would like to do this month to promote the urgent need for more registered donors in Michigan. I would be happy to provide a spokesperson from Gift of Life Michigan, waiting recipients, donor family members and/or recipients to share their amazing stories. I also have PSA's that can be mailed upon request. Please include a mailing address. They can also be sent electronically too.

Check out www.giftoflifemichigan.org for Idea Guide information.

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We are hard at work planning ALIVE '06, set for Thursday, May 4, 2006, from 6-10 pm at Park West Gallery. The Gallery is currently printing the invitations and we should all be seeing our invites in the mail by the end of the week. Talk it up! The PDF invite will also be available soon for posting on websites. We will send that to you real soon as well.

The response has already been great. Thanks for promoting ALIVE '06.

If anyone has an auction item idea or a completed form, it is NOT too late to fax it to me. We will have loads of $20 goody bags to sell this year so donations of all types, even $5-$10 items are much appreciated.

Here is the latest auction form (attached) in case you need it. Sponsors, your complimentary tickets will be in the mail by early next week. Thanks so much for your support.

Great news: Our event is listed on page 166 in Hour Detroit magazine in the HOUR Town section. Thanks HOUR Detroit! It looks great and we are getting some ticket orders from that ad already.

March 2006

We are hard at work planning ALIVE '06. I sure hope you received your Save the Date postcard a month or so ago. If you did not, please e-mail your mailing address to Cathy Warren at mmcc589@sbcglobal.net and Cathy will be sure to add you to the mailing list for the invite, which will be printed in the next few weeks.

Plans for ALIVE '06 are going well. Sponsorships have been finalized and we met with the Gallery staff last week. Please plan to attend and support this event by spreading the word. We will be promoting the event this week at the Southfield Chamber of Commerce meeting as well.

The next ALIVE '06 planning meeting will be on Wed., March 22 at 6 p.m. at the Dorfman's home in Bloomfield Hills. If you would like to attend or need directions, please co! ntact Cathy or I.

Please try to bring in auction items. Attached is the form for printing.

Michigan Dental Association Publication:

Special thanks to Dr. George Magulak, a new member. He just authored an article about Dr. John Cameron, a liver transplant recipient, also a dentist, that will be in the Michigan Dental Association magazine in April, complete with a donor registry insert. This will go out to approximately 7,200 dentists in Michigan. The Coalition will be paying about $400 for all of the organ donor registries to be inserted. This is an incredible chance to educate another extremely important group. Thanks to all who made this possible. Thanks to Jennifer Tislerics for editing the piece too.

Exciting News:

Dow Chemical, through the MacDonald Broadcasting Group and 98FM-WKCQ has chosen the Donate Life ! Coalition of Michigan to receive a $10,000 radio buy in the Saginaw area market. These spots will promote organ, tissue and eye donation and will include a tag from Dow Chemical at the end of the spots.

As a part of this exciting sponsorship, we will have our Donate Life logo, along with Dow Chemical and the radio station as a paint by number monster mural in the Children's Center at the June 17 Country Western Music Festival in Saginaw. Children will paint by number a portion of the mural and visit with Donate Life Coalition staff and volunteers. This is a wonderful opportunity for us and we thanks Tami Watchorn for making it possible. Volunteers will be needed and more info will be forthcoming in the months to follow. If you think you might like to help out that day in Saginaw or know of someone interested in working in the Children's area, please let us know. We will be meeting shortly with Dow and the radio group and have more event ! details to share after that meeting.

Donate Life Membership:

New letterhead has been ordered and our 2006 Membership Campaign is near done. If you would still like to be an individual member, please contact Cathy Warren soon.

The Executive Board will be meeting later this week. We will have a General Membership meeting date, tentatively in mid to late May this year, to pass on to you after that meeting.

PR/Marketing Subcommittee meeting:

I would like to try to meet with this group in late March or April. I will contact committee members with a time, date and location shortly.

Grant progress: We have hired a grant writer, on a very limited basis to help us this year. We are very excited and look forward to great success. Special thanks to Dr. Stanley and Lenore Dorfman f! or their financial assistance. As well, they helped us land a great grant writer. We sure appreciate their support.

After all of our meetings this week, there will be much more to report. I will plan to update you further after March 20. (I will be on vacation March 11-20)

February 2006

Note Updated Guidelines for Gift of Life Donor Registration

It has recently come to our attention that a new law was passed in Michigan (effective January 1, 2006) regarding the collection, storage and usage of Social Security numbers.

Gift of Life has chosen to ONLY collect the LAST 4 DIGITS of Social Security numbers on our donor registry brochure and on our website's donor registry page, so as to ensure we are working within this new law. We have taken immediate action on this change. Our donor registry brochure now reads as follows in the social security number section:

Social Security Number XXX XX _ _ _ _ (last 4 digits only)

We ask that you do the same, and only ask for the last 4 digits of Social Security numbers on the Donor Registry cards (and webpages) that your organization prints, collects, and submits to Gift of Life.

See the Donor Registry Guidelines, for your reference. Thank you for your attention to this matter!

January 2006

I wanted to say hello and let you all know that we are getting geared up for ALIVE '06 and wanted to remind all of you that our next big meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 11 at 6 p.m. in Southfield. (Location still to be determined.)

We will have many updates and will be looking for help in many different areas. It will be an important meeting, as it is now less than five months away.

Please let me know (through e-mail) if you are able to attend this first 2006 ALIVE planning meeting. Here is an auction form and letter for all of you to utilize. I realize it is not on letterhead but I can get that for you if you need it. We will be printing new letterhead soon to reflect our new 2006 membership.

We need your support to make this event a huge success. It is vital to the future of the Coalition. We are hoping to raise $40,000 in May at ALIVE '06. It is an ambitious goal but one I think we can accomplish if we all work together.

If anyone would like a sponsorship letter, please call or e-mail me. Updates on all sponsors to date will be shared at the Jan. 11 meeting.

I am also looking for Host Committee Members to be listed on the invite. I have secured Steve Wasserman, VP, GM at WDIV Local TV 4. If anyone has any leads on candidates for this honor, please, please contact me by Jan. 15. It is important. I have a letter drafted and ready to go should anyone want to forward me a name and address.

Membership:

If you need an invoice for your 2006 membership dues or need to k! now if you are paid for 2006, please contact Cathy Warren at (248) 366-7301 or by e-mail. (See cc: above) Letterhead will only include all corporate members.

Oakland County Executive Offices Donation:

I attended a press conference on Friday, Dec. 23 and received a check for the Donate Life Coalition of Michigan for $1,000 from the Oakland County Executive Offices. L. Brooks Patterson personally gave me the check and each of the 11 charities were able to talk about their cause for a few minutes. I did hear it on the radio later that day but the charities were not listed. It was exciting and I was able to make a strong connection with the personnel there. They have about 3,000 employees and said they would be happy to promote the donor registry in April, 2006. (Andi, I will send you a copy of the release for the website. I also have a photo to get developed this week.)

Cathy sent most everyone! a copy of the Nov. 21 meeting packet. Please contact Cathy direct if you need a copy.

If anyone is interested in more information on being considered for the Legislative subcommittee being formulated, please let me know at your earliest convenience. We have a list from the Nov. 21 meeting of those interested in being considered. If you missed the meeting and would like more info, please contact Amy O. direct.

Holiday Card Update:

We sold many cards but we still have some cards left. Since we did not date them (2005), they can be sold again this year. We hope to have a second card selection as well in 2006. Thanks to all of you who helped promote this wonderful endeavor. I have heard from friends and colleagues that the cards received some terrific publicity--Neal Rubin from The Detroit News sure loved them!!! I also heard it was on the airwaves too. Way to go Secretary Land. We thank you and y! our staff again for a fabulous opportunity!

Cathy and I wish you all peace, love, good health and all that other good stuff in 2006. Let's get busy and save more lives!

December 2005 Updates

Thank you to all the Coalition members who expressed support for the
Michigan Organ & Tissue Donation Education Fund, especially during the
General Membership meeting.

We have received the official PO Box for the Fund. The Treasury
Department suggests that the address be typed on the envelope or on a label,
to ensure that the envelope is scanned properly at the U.S. Post Office.

Michigan Organ & Tissue Donation Education Fund
P.O. Box 30437
Lansing, Michigan 48909

The linked PowerPoint and Word documents will assist you in sharing information about the Fund.

As always - your suggestions on how to the increase the Fund balance
are encouraged. ! Please send your suggestions and fundraising ideas to
Peggy and Cathy and they will make sure that it is passed on to the Coalition's
Public Policy Subcommittee.

October 2005 Updates

October Volunteer Update

Greetings!

Since we will all be meeting Nov. 21, 2005, at the new Midwest Eye-Banks and Michigan Eye-Bank offices, I thought I would make the belated October update short and sweet. We'll have many updates next month at the meeting.

1) Your meeting packets are being prepared this week and will be mailed to each of you. If you do not receive one, please contact me. You should have them by Oct. 28. Please try to attend our meeting on Monday, Nov. 21, 2005. It will be inspiring, informative and hopefully, well attended. Holiday cards will be available for sale. It will save on shipping if you can take them with you that day. Order forms for the holiday cards will be in your meeting packets so you can get a feel for what they will look like. We are ordering 300 sets of 10. We look forward to sharing these with you. The Donate Life Coalition of Michigan version is similar yet different from Secretary Land's. We're so happy to have this exciting opportunity with the Michigan Dept. of State. Thanks Beth Emmit and your staff for a fabulous job well done. Thanks to Brenda Ball Wood, our outstanding graphics artist too.

2) As well, membership renewal letters will be sent out as well in your meeting packets. 2006 membership dues (corporate and individual) are due by Jan. 10, 2006. We will be ordering new letterhead to reflect our growing, corporate member list so it will be impt. to receive your membership renewal info by Jan. 10.) If you can bring your check and info to the Nov. 21, 2005 meeting it would be appreciated.

3) ALIVE '06 is going great. We have had two very productive committee meetings. I have been meeting with many media and corporate sponsors as well. We will have our next meeting Wed., Jan. 11, 2005, in the evening in Southfield. Hope many of you can attend. Sponsors and in-kind product commitments are coming in strong. If you would like a proposal for a potential sponsor, please say the word. Auction forms are also available and will be distributed on

Nov. 21, 2005.

4) The next PR/Marketing Meeting will be on Thursday, Nov. 3 at 1:30 p.m. at William Beaumont at Susan Jackson's offices (our usual meeting location). We will work on reviewing the new Marketing Plan to be presented Nov. 21 as well as plan for 2006. We will debrief on Tigers Donor Awareness Day and talk about plans for National Donor Sabbath, our next Parish nurse seminar and the national PSA radio mailing campaign that Lisa Ziff so kindly helped out with last month.

5) Corporate Member Plans: We are moving forward with a plan to recruit more corporate members. I am going to be representing the Coalition on Monday at the Volkswagen corporate Diversity Week health fair. We will receive $100 for participating. We'll be able to reach up to 1,000 Volkswagen employees with donor registries. If anyone learns of other opportunities to be represented in a corporate setting, please say the word. We can work together with Jennifer Tislerics on workplace partnerships.

6) Grant info: With the (free of charge) guidance of a terrific, seasoned grant writer, I am working on writing grants. I will be sending one this week to the Detroit Lions. Keep your fingers crossed.

I said it was going to be short and sweet so I will stop here. Looking forward to seeing many of you on November 21, 2005.

Happy Halloween!

Peggy Burkhard

September 2005 Updates

September Volunteer Update

A big thanks to everyone who attended the recent Volunteer Trainings last week! We had a great time and learned lots! Look for the next trainings to occur in early March in time to kick of April's National Donate Life Month.

GREAT NEWS!!!

Heart Insignia Legislation: The Heart Insignia Legislation to put a heart logo on the front of the driver license and State ID card is on its way to the Governor's desk. All four bills have passed the House and Senate and are waiting to reach the Governor for her signature. A heart logo would indicate that a person is a registered donor. The Governor has 14 days to sign the bills once they hit her desk.
Heart Insignia Legislation: Senate Bill 301, House Bill 4082, House Bill 4469 and House Bill 4470

The Secretary of State has an excellent press release in support of these bills on her website http://www.michigan.gov/sos/0,1607,7-127--126785--,00.html

Thank you to everyone who acted on our request for support!

Items included in this email:

Events:
I. Tiger Day Friday, Sept. 23rd 7:05pm Comerica Park, Detroit
II. Betty Buckley Donor Family Ceremony Sunday, Oct. 16th East Lansing
III. National Donor Sabbath Weekend Nov. 11-13
IV. Upcoming Support Group Visits
V. Team Michigan at the recent 2005 World Transplant Games London, Ontario, Canada
VI. 2006 US Transplant Olympic Games June 17 - 21 Louisville, KY
*Don't forget to check out our website for further events....http://www.giftoflifemichigan.org/events/events.htm

Cool Stuff!
I. UNOS calcluator for Lung Allocation Scores
II. OPTN FOCUS GROUPS
III. Hurricane Katrina: Help for kidney and transplant patients IV. Diabetic friendly cookie recipe
V. 20 Tips to Help Prevent Medical Errors
VI. Keep It With You: Personal Medical Information Form

News Articles of Interest:
I. Blacks and Hispanics More Likely to Be Readmitted for Diabetes Complications
II. Diabetes Now Linked to Ear Damage
III. Diabetic Nerve Therapy Shows "Striking" Results IV. Insurance & the Transplant Patient
V. Love, gratitude brighten lives of donors, recipients

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Events:
I. Tiger Day Friday, Sept. 23rd 7:05pm Comerica Park, Detroit
The Detroit Tigers will be highlighting children touched by donation and transplantation with a pre-game ceremony on the field. Free tickets donated by the Tigers to the Donate Life Coalition of Michigan have all been given to Michigan children with organ or tissue transplants and their families.
Transplant Kids going on field for pre-game (plus their parents) -- Sarah McPharlin, Royce White, Richard Gill III, Carmen Muglia, Kevin Globke, Shay Ziff, Marisa Hamet, Mason Faussett, DeShaun Goudelock, Ryan Kanneth, Lexie Dorfman, Alexa Finkele (representing her brother, Ty, who is waiting for a 2nd heart), Jacob Feuerstein, Ethan Andrews, Tawni Urso, Kaden Cook.

Ty's family will be wearing t-shirts with his picture on them, and carrying a sign letting folks know he's waiting for his second heart transplant.
He was supposed to have been on the field himself, but he was admitted to the hospital a couple weeks ago with a heart attack, and was put on life support. He's now breathing on his own (without the vent), but nothing can be done until he gets another heart. Please keep him and his family in your prayers!

Here's a great article about a little boy who received a heart transplant 3 years ago...you may recall the original series of articles on then-two-year-old Kaden Cook, which has been very well received by Free Press readers.

The side box mentions how to sign up to be a donor, and our upcoming Tigers' Donor Awareness Game at Comerica Park this Friday evening. There will be
15 kids on the field, but we didn't have permission from all their parents to be included in the article.

II. Betty Buckley Donor Family Ceremony Sunday, Oct. 16th East Lansing
Families of those who became organ and/or tissue donors in 2004 are invited to participate in this ceremony which celebrates life - the lives of those who gave, and the life passed on to those who received. Invitations will be sent to families in late summer. For more information, please contact Jennifer Tislerics at jtislerics@giftoflifemichigan.org or call 800-482-4881.

III. National Donor Sabbath Weekend Nov. 11-13
Faith congregations are invited to celebrate the gifts of life, sight and mobility this weekend. Participating congregations are encouraged to order bulletin inserts, donor registry brochures, sermon notes and ribbon bookmarks to support your involvement in this interfaith donor awareness weekend.
For more information, please contact Jennifer Tislerics at jtislerics@giftoflifemichigan.org or call 800-482-4881.

Here is a great resource for religious views on donation/transplantation in the faith community.

IV. Upcoming Support Group Visits

Sat, Oct. 8 Jackson Support Gp and UMMC lung Support Group visit and tour Gift of Life Michigan
Wed, Oct. 12 Bluewater Support Group - Port Huron 7-8:30pm Port Huron Hospital - The Gathering Place Room
Thurs, Oct. 13 Northern Support Group - Gaylord 6pm Otsego Memorial Hospital - Class Room
Wed, Nov 16 HFH lung Support Group - Detroit 1 - 2:30pm HFH - room 2101

I will be visiting the above groups to meet and discuss the latest events at Gift of Life. We will discuss how to recruit opportunities in your own community to promote donation and the Donor Registry. Come join us!

V. Team Michigan at the recent 2005 World Transplant Games London, Ontario, Canada
Five members from Team Michigan became members of Team USA in the World Translant games that were held in London, Ontario this past July. Here are the results:

Terry Gould: 7 Gold Medal, Swimming
T.J. Maciak: 1 Silver, 1 Bronze, Bowling
6th place, Cricket Ball Throw
Mary Catherine Siers: 4th place, Golf
Teresa Snyder: 1 Gold, 1 Silver, Bowling
Carol Woodbridge: 4th place, Swimming

Congratulations to all who participated and represented the USA so well.

VI. 2006 US Transplant Olympic Games June 17 - 21 Louisville, KY
Team Michigan, consisting of transplant recipients and donor family members, is gearing up for the 2006 US Transplant Olympic Games and National Donor Family Ceremony in Louisville, Kentucky. These events will take place from June 17-21, 2006. For photos, results and information about recent Transplant Olympic competitions, visit this site.

If you have received information about buying Corvette Raffle tickets directly from the Corvette Club, please discard that information. Buying raffle tickets directly from the Corvette Club does NOT benefit Team Michigan. More information about buying raffle tickets to benefit Team Michigan will be coming soon.

Team Michigan will be hosting a Bowl-a-thon (money raised will benefit the team) on Saturday, March 11, 2006. The event will be held at Troy Lanes (Square Lake/John R Roads in Troy), from 1:30 - 4:30pm. During the event there will be opportunities for auction items and 50/50 raffle sales. If you'd like to help plan this family-friendly fundraising event, please contact Cecilia Lewandowski at foolsbabe1@comcast.net or 586-263-5135.

If you'd like to join the Team Michigan mailing list, please contact Kathy Homan at khoman@nkfm.org or 800-482-1455, ext. 206.

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Cool Stuff!
I. UNOS calcluator for Lung Allocation Scores
Lung Allocation Score (LAS) Calculator Available Online
The new lung allocation system helps determine the order that lung offers are made to lung transplant candidates by assigning each candidate a
lung allocation score (LAS). The LAS, which is based on each candidate's particular medical information, is an important factor in determining
priority for receiving a lung transplant when a donor lung becomes available.

The score produced by the online LAS calculator is approximate and for informational use only. Actual lung allocation scores are based solely
on the data entered into UNet(superscript: SM) by a transplant center. Go here to learn more about lung allocation policy and scores
and to access the online LAS calculator.

II. OPTN FOCUS GROUPS
The OPTN/UNOS Organ Availability Committee (OAC) www.unos.org has come to the NKF seeking 48 participants for a focus group study. They are looking for people who fit into one of the following groups to participate:

1) You have a spouse, relative or significant other who needs a transplant, but you have decided not to donate (for any reason)
OR
2) You have already donated a kidney to a neighbor, co-worker, church member or friend (i.e., not a family member) The purpose of the focus group study is two-fold: 1) to determine what barriers exist that can be improved upon, and 2) understand why people donate and increase efforts in those areas.

UNOS is working with an outside consultant to conduct this study. Ideally, the consultant would like to conduct the focus groups in person; however, given the difficulty of finding enough participants in the Richmond-D.C. area, the focus groups may need to convene via conference call.

If you are interested, please write to jenniferm@kidney.org with the following information:
- which group describes you:
#1- You have a spouse, relative or significant other who needs a transplant, but you have decided not to donate OR #2- You have already donated a kidney to a neighbor, co-worker, church member or friend (i.e., not a family member)
- Your name, email address and/or phone number
- Your city and state of residence
Thanks!

III. Hurricane Katrina: Help for kidney and transplant patients
www.kidney.org home page lists resources and information for dialysis and kidney patients affected by Katrina - it is being updated regularly...NKF
efforts to assist and help are in progress...

For all transplant recipients needing services:
The University of Alabama-Birmingham Transplant Program has established toll-free resource "Hotlines" for patients affected by the hurricane in need of transplant services. The hotlines are for any recipient affected by Katrina that is in the general area of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee.

Calls will be handled by transplant coordinators, and will be triaged and forwarded as appropriate.

KIDNEY/LIVER/PANCREAS TRANSPLANT RECIPIENTS:
CALL TOLL-FREE 1.866.884.7387
HEART/LUNG TRANSPLANT RECIPIENTS:
CALL TOLL-FREE 1.866.684.2361

The University of South Alabama Medical Center Pharmacy will supply medications for any transplant patient who needs assistance at this time. The patient can call our toll free number and the nurse on call will give instructions to them. They can pick up the medications at the hospital, if they have a way of getting to Mobile.
The toll free number to the USA Regional Transplant Center is 877 421-5704.
call with any questions or to schedule a clinic visit or needed blood work.

Our thoughts are with all of you who are directly or indirectly affected by this hurricane... NKF will continue to coordinate efforts...

IV. Diabetic friendly cookie recipe

V. 20 Tips to Help Prevent Medical Errors

Medical errors are one of the Nation's leading causes of death and injury. A recent report by the Institute of Medicine estimates that 44,000 to 98,000 people die in U.S. hospitals each year as the result of medical errors. This means more people die from medical errors than from motor vehicle accidents, breast cancer or AIDS.

If you find yourself interested in learning more about medical errors and how to prevent them, iKidney.com® has published a great article on its Web site, www.ikidney.com, providing very useful tips and information on medical errors.

Medical errors happen when something that was planned as a part of medical care doesn't work out or when the wrong plan was used in the first place. Medical errors can occur anywhere in the health care system, such as hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, pharmacies and outpatients surgery centers.

They can happen during even the most routine tasks, such as when a hospital patient on a salt-free diet is given a high-salt meal ?
although most errors result from problems created by today's complex health care system, some happen when doctors and their patients have problems communicating. Uninvolved and uninformed patients are less likely to accept the doctor's choice of treatment and less likely to do what they need to do to make the treatment work.

As a helpful resource, iKidney.com® has listed 20 helpful tips on how to prevent medical errors from occurring. To view this article in its entirety, please visit http://www.ikidney.com/iKidney/Lifestyles/20TipsToHelpPreventMedicalE
rrors.htm.

VI. Keep It With You: Personal Medical Information Form

In light of recent events, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has made available a Personal Medical Information Form that can be used in emergency situations when important medical information may not be readily accessible. See below for more details:

Keep It With You: Personal Medical Information Form In an emergency situation, people may not be able to get to their medical records. The "Keep It With You" (KIWY) Personal Medical Information Form is intended to be a voluntary and temporary record that lists medical care and other health information for people who need care during disasters and similar situations. It is important for health care workers to have a simple and reliable way to learn information about past and new health concerns for people receiving help.

Directions
Please print out Side 1 & 2 of the KIWY Personal Medical Information Form. The KIWY form should be copied so that it is on 2 sides of one piece of paper.

Please fill out as much as you can on the form. It is okay if you don't fill out every space. You might want to use a pencil if some information will change, such as your address. Some of the information will be filled out by a health care worker, like "Active Diagnoses" and "Healthcare Encounters"
information. If you have an immunization card listing the shots you have recently had, please staple it to the KIWY form.

The KIWY form can be folded and placed in a plastic bag for safe keeping.

For Health Care Workers
The KIWY form is not intended to replace hardcopy or electronic medical records, but is an interim communication tool to assist individuals as they navigate a potentially complex system of temporary support, housing, and clinical services. Clinicians are encouraged to adapt format and content as necessary to best serve the specific situation, population, and clinical care needs. The form provided is intended to serve as a basic tool, providing a framework for more specific refinement.

It is suggested that care providers photocopy the document after an individual receives care, in order to maintain a record of who was seen and what treatment was provided. The original form is intended to remain with the individual during the time they are displaced. The form can serve as an interim summary when normal care can be resumed. Download the Form here.

News Articles of Interest:
I. Blacks and Hispanics More Likely to Be Readmitted for Diabetes Complications
II. Diabetes Now Linked to Ear Damage
III. Diabetic Nerve Therapy Shows "Striking" Results
IV. Insurance & the Transplant Patient
V. Love, gratitude brighten lives of donors, recipients

September Update

Greetings,

Hope everyone is doing well.

It was a busy and exciting summer for the Donate Life Coalition of Michigan with so many special events, a few fundraisers,
productive meetings on the Executive Board level, the 2005 holiday cards which are being designed and much more.
All $100 level members will be included on all versions of the 2005 holiday cards. Secretary Land will be printing approximately 8,000 of her own cards with our lifesaving message and we will also have two other versions of the card, appropriate for the Coalition to sell. This is very exciting and we thank the Beth Emmitt and her staff at the Michigan Dept. of State for enabling our Coalition to be a part of this year's holiday card. Once the cards are available, order forms will be sent to all of you.

UPDATES:

Aug. 28 Health Fair: (From Cathy Warren) On Sunday, August 28^th the St. Aloysius Community Center in Detroit opened its doors to well over 400 people. A hot meal was served to all who entered. Raffles were given throughout the day. Donate Life Coalition of Michigan provided 2 back-packs stuffed with school supplies as raffle items along with 2 Donate Life t-shirts. The Donate Life Coalition of Michigan booth, back-dropped by one of the gorgeous Gift of Life Quilts, provided donor registries, MOTTEP brochures, Donate Life brochur! es, candy, pins, pens, Crayons and Mama’s Boyz comics and spiral notebooks with pencils to over 100 people. This was the second annual Whole Health Fair at St. Aloysius. We're looking forward to being a part of next year’s wonderful community support event to address the mental, physical and spiritual needs of so many.

Congratulations to Cathy Warren, Dr. Kevin Chan, Roxane Chan and Mary Catherine Wright for a great job organizing this very exciting and well received grant seminar entitled, "Bringing Organ Donation Awareness to our Faith Communities with a Focus on Addressing Minority Issues. This Aug. 6 event, which took place at Henry Ford Health System, went very, very well. About 30-40 parish nurses and health care professionals (who could earn CEU credit hours that day) seemed to really appreciate the opportunity to learn more about organ donation. In fact, one woman, I believe a parish nurse in attendance, stated that before Aug. 6 she would never, ever have considered becoming a registered donor and then completely changed her mind about organ donation by the end of the seminar. We are going to look for ways to build on this success statewide. We'll provide a complete update Nov. 21 and will be looking for support for future loc! ations to host this event as well as sponsors on all levels. Dubs of the entire seminar are available upon written request. Thanks to Lisa Langley, Remonia Chapman and Jennifer Tislerics for their wonderful presentations. Thanks to Henry Ford Health Systems too!

(Belated Kudos!) LIFE WALK was a huge success back in July. Kudos to Remonia and her entire committee and Gift of Life staff for all their hard work. What a great event and an amazing opportunity to educate the public. Thanks to all the Coalition members that supported this wonderful event.

Special thanks to Lisa Ziff for sending out about 35 PSA's we purchased this summer (with the proceeds earned at the JD's Key Club fundraiser) to many radio stations across Michigan. We sure appreciate your hard work on this project.

Arts du Jour: We sold 24 tickets to date and had an added donation come through as well. Thanks to all of you who supported this event. I will be sending thank you notes to everyone next week. The final numbers are not in yet on what we raised. We also had the chance to have donor registries out at the event and I even witnessed a couple sitting together reading the brochure. As well, we had booth space, compliments of Grace Center for Hope at Arts, Beats and Eats. Special thanks to Kim Zasa for working so hard to get it staffed part of the weekend.

Signatures Across America:

Thanks to all who volunteered and helped out in Martin, MI in early August. The numbers are not in yet but we will be receiving feedback soon on how many participated and how much money we raised. We have some great photos that we will be adding to our website soon too.

SAVE THE DATES:

1) Tiger Donor Awareness Day: Friday, Sept. 23, 2005, at Comerica Park. Game starts at 7:05 p.m.

The press release is being drafted, the autographed ball to be raffled has been signed and the PSA game night announcements have been written. Mark your calendars and join a bunch of incredible recipient children as they take to the field Sept. 23 before the Tiger's play the Seattle Mariners at Comerica Park. (Game starts at 7:05 p.m.) There will be a Donate Life information table set up near the Food Court with the chance to win an autographed ball for registering, giveaways and much more. Special thanks to Susan Jackson and Jennifer Tislerics of the PR/Marketing Committee and all their volunteers who will make this an incredible night of awareness.

2) ALIVE '06 plans have begun. We have already had one awesome meeting and the next one is scheduled for Wed., Oct. 5 at 6:15 p.m. at Cosi in Southfield (at 12 Mile and Telegraph Rd.) Please join us if you want to be a part of this exciting committee. We will be working hard to make ALIVE '06 the best yet. (We will be addressing crowd flow, a much, much shorter ceremony, more eats and much more fun is being planned.) Join us! If you have ideas for sponsors, live auction items or would like to share some names for the invitation mailing list, please e-mail Cathy or I.

3) Save the Date---Monday, Nov. 21

General Membership Meeting: We will be meeting at the new Michigan Eye-Bank offices, located at 4889 Venture Drive in Ann Arbor. The phone number is 800-247-7250 for our General Membership meeting from about Noon to 3:30 p.m. More information will follow next month. Please make every effort to attend or send a representative. We will be rolling out a 2006 Marketing Plan, based on the Strategic Plan we developed in Oct. '04. We need your help to grow and make the Coalition stronger and more effective each year. Each member will be asked to help. It will not require a great deal of time but will make a significant difference.

National Donor Sabbath: Don't forget Nov. 11-13, 2005. For more information for your congregation, please contact Lisa Langley, Jennifer Tislerics or Remonia Chapman.

PR/Marketing Committee Members: I will be contacting many of you to see if you can meet sometime in October, perhaps at William Beaumont again. I have not forgotten how much each of you contributes to our Coalition. If anyone would like to join the PR/Marketing committee for 2006, information will be forthcoming on Nov. 21.

Upcoming Member Events:

American Liver Foundation Walk is scheduled for Sept. 24-25 in Grand Rapids on the 24 and Belleville on the 25. For more information, please call 8880MY LIVER or visit www.liverfoundation.org/michigan

If you would like some free placemats for an upcoming event, please e-mail me and I will get those out to you. They look great and are a wonderful education tool, thanks again to U of M.

Please stay in touch and make every effort to attend our Nov. 21 meeting. We cannot do this without all of you. It will include a free lunch.

August 2005 Updates

Dear Members and Friends,

Hope you are all having a great summer. Hard to believe it is August already.

Here's an Update and some Save the Dates for you:

Wednesday, November 9, 2005, from Noon -3 p.m. in Ann Arbor

(location to be confirmed at a later date- either the Gift of Life Michigan offices or the Michigan Eye-Bank's new location) will be our next General Membership meeting. At this time, we will be updating you on the Strategic Plan as well as providing a Marketing Plan to compliment the 2004 Strategic Plan. We hope that you can be there as we move forward in our plans and mission statement. Our Executive Board has met several times now to work on the strategies, goals and tactics.

Saturday, August 6 was a huge success! (The Parish Nurse CEU Program at Henry Ford Hospital) Kudos to Cathy Warren, Dr. Kevin Chan, Roxane Chan and Mary Catherine Wright. (as well as all others involved including Remonia Chapman, Lisa Langley and Jennifer Tislerics.) We could not have done it without so many. We had about 43 people at the event. As many of you may recall, we received a grant last year from the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) This parish nurse event was titled, "Bringing Organ Donation to our Faith Communities With A Focus on Addressing Minority Issues" and information on National Donor Sabbath in November. We were all inspired by so many speakers, including double lung recipient Reverend Patrick Gahagen of Immanuel Lutheran Church. The response was absolutely wonderful. The Executive Board is now looking to make this available in the future throughout the state. We will keep you posted in the near ! future regarding opportunities to get more involved. This four hour event was taped and will be edited and made available upon request in the next few months. It is very worthwhile and I encourage all of you to utilize it, once available.

Signatures Across America! This weekend, in Martin, Michigan we will be participating in this awareness event and fundraiser. Thanks to all who have signed up to volunteer. Attached is the press release if anyone would like more info. I am trying to get some of the local press interested in this. If you would like to get involved as a volunteer, please contact Cathy Warren direct at (248) 366-7301. Martin, MI is located near Kalamazoo.

From One Legacy:

This summer marks Southern California's first foray into leveraging one of America's genuine passions -- motorsports -- to inspire people to donate life. As you'll read in the attached press release, this Thursday evening we will launch the first of these programs: Donate Life Signatures Across America! Led by Southern California drag racer and lung recipient Bill Widen, Donate Life Signatures Across America promises to excite motorsports enthusiasts across the country as it tours to IHRA and NHRA tracks from Irwindale to New Hampshire. OneLegacy is sponsoring this program through 2006 in hope that we and our colleagues across the country can bene! fit from the unique fundraising and media opportunities that this project offers. Motorsports enthusiasts at each of the car's scheduled appearances will have an opportunity to sign the Donate Life Funny Car with a Sharpie marker in exchange for a $10 donation to support local Donate Life campaigns. 50% of the proceeds will be retained by the local Coalition on Donation partner who provides volunteer and promotional support at the race track and the remaining proceeds to offset a portion of OneLegacy's initial sponsorship investment. To support the Donate Life Funny Car's national tour, OneLegacy has built a module on their website with photos, fact sheets and media ! info that brings the project to life. Simply click on the Donate Life Signatures Across America button at the bottom of the OneLegacy homepage at www.onelegacy.org.

Arts du Jour: Sunday, Aug. 28, 2005

Whether or not you can attend, please try to promote this worthwhile event. We have sold 12 tickets to date. Thanks to all who have supported this event thus far through ticket sales, letter writing, volunteering, restaurant recruitment, host committee members, etc. It is a wonderful night out in Troy and nearly 70 percent of the $100 ticket price comes back to the Donate Life Coalition of Michigan. We still need your support. Please e-mail me if you still need an invite or you can go direct to the Arts du Jour website, which is www.artsdujour.org to order tickets. Tickets can also be purchased at the door. Be sure to designate the Donate Life Coalition of Michigan as the charity of your choice. I am still waiting to hear if we will be able to have a booth set up Labor Day Weekend at Arts, Beats and Eats. If we do, we may need volunteers to help out.

Holiday Cards are Now Being Designed:

In partnership with Secretary Land's office, we will have our Donate Life message incorporated in the Secretary's 7,000 Holiday Cards in 2005. As well, a second version of the card will be printed for us to sell. All $100 level members will have their company's name included on the back of both cards, free of charge. This will be a great way to spread the organ donation message and include your organization. (It is not too late to join the Coalition in 2005 if you want your name on the 2005 Holiday card. Note: only $100 level members can be listed due to space restraints.) I will keep you all posted on this project as it develops.

Membership Drive for 2006

If you know of any potential new members, please visit our website for a brochure or have that group or individual contact Cathy Warren or myself. We want the Coalition to grow and we committed members dedicated to educating the public of the need for more registered donors and strength in numbers will help. Perhaps you know of a potential corporate member touched by donation that has been looking for a way to make a difference. Please let us know if you can think of anyone and we can then contact them. I am currently drafting a letter which will state in bullet points all of the advantages of being a $100 level member, including the member's name listed on the letterhead and 2005 Holiday Card. This is important and we appreciate your help.

Grant Writing:

I will be doing some grant writing this fall, and we will be hiring a consultant. If anyone would like to help prepare a grant or has leads on potential grants, please contact me. We learned last Saturday just how exciting and important a grant can be. We have so many things we want to accomplish as a Coalition and as we all know, that takes time and money. Thanks for any leads or suggestions.

ALIVE '06

We had a great meeting on August 1, 2005. The minutes are available upon request. If anyone would like to join our planning committee, the next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 5 at 6:15 p.m. in Southfield at Cosi Restaurant, located at 12 Mile Rd. and Telegraph, in front of the Tel-Twelve Mall. We realize as a committee that we need to make some important changes to the award program and event, due to the large attendance in 2005. We feel confident that the changes we are planning will make 2006 a terrific event, successful event.

PSA Project:

We ordered a bunch of DVDs from the National Coalition, to be mailed statewide to select radios stations. Special thanks to Lisa Ziff for her time in preparing the DVDs. We sure appreciate it.

Tigers Donor Awareness Day:

We will take to the field on Friday, Sept. 23, 2005, against the Seattle Mariners at 7:05 p.m. for an evening of awareness and great fun. Fireworks too! Free tickets have all been distributed, thanks to Jennifer Tislerics. Thanks to Susan Jackson and all others involved for making this event a huge success each year. This year, we will have a focus on children touched by donation. Children of all ages will take to the field. Hope to see you there. We will have a booth set up too. Great photo opps!!

Doc Office Displays:

Dr. Dorfman and I met with the Oakland County Medical Society (OCMS) in July. We will be pursuing the doctors office displays in the fall, most likely ordering these displays then. The OCMS has been sending letters out, asking physicians if they would like donor brochures sent to their offices. The response was good, much higher than usual. At this time, the OCMS will be including organ donation information in their upcoming newsletter.

I think that is it for now. Enjoy the last lazy days of summer and hope to see you all soon. Don't forget to save Nov. 9, 2005, for our next General Membership meeting. Please stay in touch- (248) 366-6661

Peggy Burkhard

Donate Life Coalition of Michigan

News on our Coalition Logos!! We are pleased to announce that we have completed the process of registering the Donate Life^® and Done Vida^® logos as service marks of the Coalition on Donation with the U.S. Patent and Trade Office. In addition, we are in the process of registering the phrases Donate Life^SM and Done Vida^SM.

There is no need to immediately change your existing materials; but we would ask that when you replace or develop new materials, you use the new versions of the logos.

To assist in this, we have provided a link to a page featuring these files in a variety of formats. www.donatelife.net/dl.asp

Additionally, you will find there the newly revised edition of the Style Guide and Usage Policy --- Guidelines for Coalition on Donation Marks and Materials. Your adherence to these guidelines ensures the integrity of the national symbol for organ, eye and tissue donation.

We ask for your continued stewardship in using the materials accurately and bringing us closer to our vision of an organ or tissue transplant for everyone in need.

July 2005 Updates

Save the date--Monday, Aug. 1, 2005, about 6:30 p.m. will be our first ALIVE '06 meeting somewhere in the Southfield area. If you would like to attend, please let Peggy know via email.

LIFE Walk is coming soon.

Please mark you calendar and plan on supporting Gift of Life MOTTEP on July 23, 2005 at the Historical Belle Isle Park. Registration begins at 9 a.m. For more information, please call 800-482-4881 or visit motteplifewalk.org. I know some of you are already planning to attend. Thank you.

Parish Nurse CEU Program:

We are still accepting registrations for the Parish Nurse CEU session made possible by the grant we were awarded from the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP). This parish nurse event is entitled “Bringing Organ Donation Awareness To Our Faith Communities With a Focus On Addressing Minority Issues”. It is scheduled for Saturday, August 6^th, 2005 from 9:00-1:30 at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. We have applied for 4 CEU’s from the Michigan Nurses Association. There is a $10 cost to attend this session. The additional $2.50 parking fee will be reimbursed at registration. A continental breakfast and box lunch will be provided. This event will cover 5 topics: Assisting parishioners in navigating through end of life issues; Spiritual connection to organ donation; Panel discussion with recipients/donor family; Organ donation – an overview; National Donor Sabbath – how to help prepare your faith community. If you or anyone you know is interested in attending this session, please complete the attached registration form. Payment and mailing instructions are included on the form.

We are also offering coalition members the opportunity to have an information table before, during and after this session to distribute your material to the session attendees. If you are interested in having a table, please contact Cathy Warren as space is limited. If you would like to have your material distributed, but you can not host a table, please contact Cathy Warren so that arrangements can be made to have your material included in the participants’ packets. If you have any questions regarding this session, please contact Cathy Warren at 248-366-7301 or email at mmcc589@sbcglobal.net.

Arts du Jour invites are in - Need to know what you need!

To save on shipping costs this year, I am only going to send invites to those in the Greater Detroit area UNLESS I HEAR FROM YOU. I have many invites but they are expensive to mail. Please let me know, by e-mail if you need any mailed to you. As I stated in my last e-mail, this is a fantastic fundraising opportunity for the Coalition and I hope you will all be involved through ticket sales.

Meet Michelle Hoisington, our new intern:

Michelle has agreed to be our unpaid 2005 intern, helping us in the Midland/Saginaw area. Michelle is a pageant contender and has chosen organ donation to be her "platform" cause. Michelle will be working on distributing placemats, promoting media opportunities with PSA deliveries near her home, public speaking about our cause on the pageant circuit as well as in her hometown and much more. Michelle will be helping out at our Aug. 6 event as well as at Tiger's Donor Awareness Day. Hope you all get the chance to meet Michelle.

Save the Date: Friday, Sept. 23, 2005: Organ donation awareness at Comerica Park. Fireworks, awareness and a great time!!!

Doctors Office Donor Registry Program:

We are about to order 1,000 displays (very nice) for this granted program. Dr. Stanley Dorfman has worked hard with the Oakland County Medical Society and Gift of Life Michigan to increase registration by having these wonderful displays available. This is by far one of the the most important things we can to increase donation this year, in my opinion. Sponsorship is currently being developed. I have Novartis interested in a proposal. Please let me know if you or one of your contacts in the organ donation field would be interested in sponsorship opportunities. Sponsorship will include your logo on the 8 1/2 x 11 " insert that will accompany each display. Sponsorship money will be used to pay for more displays, there! fore increasing the number of locations. Please contact me if you would like a proposal. Our hope is to eventually expand this program statewide.

FYI: According to recent data distributed at the National Coalition on Donation meeting in LA, California, 77 percent of people who participated in a 4,500 national research study of people ages 18 or older feel that their doctor's office is the place they feel most comfortable making the decision to become a registered donor. We are on the right track!

JD's Key Club Fundraiser-

Due to the Pistons Game 7 Finals and roads in Pontiac being blocked off for JAMbalaya on June 24, we had a low turnout. Imagine our faces when we realized all this. However, we did make about $278 that night. Thanks so much to all who attended. Thanks to Hungry Howie's for sponsoring the event and Lisa and Adam Ziff for all their hard work. We decided that we were going to take this money and do something special. I am going to order 50 various PSA's from the National Coalition, to be sent out to 50 media sources this summer. We will decide in the future what to do about another JD's night. It can only get better and they were very nice to work with. Thanks to all who promoted the event. If anyone would like a copy for someone in the media, please let me know.

Don't forget to visit www.donatelifemichigan.org. Thanks to Andi Cuskie for an awesome job keeping it current.

Memorial Envelopes. If anyone is in need of memorial envelopes, please contact Cathy Warren or I and we can mail those out to you.

ALIVE 06 Details: We will be putting together a first planning meeting later this month. If you are interested in working on ALIVE '06, please, please let us know so we can be sure to include you in the meeting plans. The '06 committee currently includes: Lenore and Stan Dorfman, Terri Herman, Cathy Warren, Kim Roe, Lisa Langley, Lisa and Adam Ziff, Mark Harris, Jennifer Tislerics and Peggy Burkhard. We need your energy, ideas and a few hours of your time to make it all happen again next year. If you can only attend a meeting or two or would like a specific task that would only take a few hours of your time, please let us know.

We have received great feedback from many of you and we have a great plan in place to make ALIVE '06 another awesome fundraiser and awareness event. If you have any other comments, please say the word.

Holiday Card Program is a Go!

We will be working with Secretary of State Land's office on an organ donation Holiday cards that will go out on behalf of Secretary Land as well as a second version that will be for us to sell to interested card senders. This is an exciting opportunity. We will have more details shortly. So hold off on buying those cards.

Additional July Info:

1) Anyone interested in volunteering at LIFE Walk '05 on Saturday, July 23 on Belle Isle, please contact Kim Zasa. Her e-mail is kzasa@giftoflifemichigan.org. It is going to be a great event. For more (walking) event info, visit motteplifewalk.org or call 800-482-4881.

Tiger's Day Update: (from Jennifer Tislerics.) Thanks, Jennifer! Thanks Susan!

2) Good News! The tickets for the Detroit Tiger Donor Awareness Game have
arrived. As we discussed at the last Coalition PR/Marketing meeting,
the
"theme" this year will be focusing on children who have had organ,
tissue or corneal transplants.

These kids will be invited to participate in the pre-game ceremony on
the field. Typically, the Tigers limit the number of people allowed on
the
field, so we may have to restrict the number of siblings & extended
family joining the kids on the field. Of course, each child is encouraged
(highly!!) to bring at least one parent onto the field with them for
the ceremony.

The game is on September 23, at 7:05pm (fireworks afterward!), against
the Seattle Mariners. We're in section 143, along the 3rd base line.

If you know of any children with transplants who would like to attend
the game (for free), please call or email me for tickets.&n! bsp; Thanks and
kudos go
out to Susan Jackson, at Beaumont Hospital, for obtaining these 200
free tickets for the Coalition!

Jennifer Tislerics
Special Events & Partnerships Coordinator
800-482-4881, x227
jtislerics@giftoflifemichigan.org

Sign up on the Gift of Life Organ, Tissue & Eye Donor Registry at:
http://www.giftoflifemichigan.org/registrycard.asp

June 2005 Updates

Arts du Jour 2005

Sunday, August 28, 2005 at Somerset Collection South In Troy, MI

starting at 7 p.m.- 10:30 p.m. w/ an After Glow at the Capitol Grille stating at 9 p.m.

$100 includes open bar, lots of music entertainment and amazing food from more than 72 Michigan restaurants.

We are one of 16 charities involved, selling tickets, recruiting volunteers (if interested in volunteering at the event, contact Kim Zasa at Gift of Life at: kzasa@giftoflifemichigan.org and celebrity chefs-yes we need a few to work one half hour shift, trying to still obtain two more restaurants-any leads?, and most importantly:

SELLING TICKETS FOR $100 EACH--Remember: WE WILL GET ABOUT $65-70 BACK FOR EACH TICKET.

Special thanks to Susan Jackson for securing Baja Fresh on our behalf again. Thanks to John Chuchman for trying.

Cathy Warren is in the process of updating our big mailing list to include all who purchased tickets to ALIVE '05 at the door and in advance. Therefore, if your friends and family attended ALIVE '05, they should now be on that list. Cathy will have that for us next week, mid week.

We will be mailing the invites we have names and addresses for around July 9. Note: they will cost $.60 cents each to mail if you decide to mail on your own.

Please let me know how many you would like mailed or delivered to you by July 6. There are sealed (with the note from Lenore and Stan Dorfman. Thanks to the Dorfmans and Ziffs for letting us share their wonderful story about Shay this year. ) and unsealed (still with the note). Note: They all contain the same note. The unsealed are nice for anyone who wants to slip a personalized note. Please be sure to let me know which you prefer.

WE HAVE MANY SO DON'T BE SHY. It is really great if you can get them out without the expense of mailing so be creative throughout July and August. Thanks.

If you want to get Cathy Warren names and addresses so you do not have to mail them yourself, please get Cathy that info by July 5. We do not want to duplicate mailing because they will be expensive to mail. (Note, again, we get back about $65-$70 per ticket sold so this is a great fundraiser for us.)

The meeting yesterday was great. They have 72 restaurants and it should be a great event! I know anyone who goes raves about what a great time it is.

All Coalition members will receive about three invites in the mail from me after July 6. This note is for those of you I hope will be able to really help us sell the event locally in your place of business, with family and friends.

IDEA: PURCHASE A FEW TICKETS AND USE THEM FOR A FUN EMPLOYEE GIVEAWAY RAFFLE CONTEST FOR GIFT. It truly is a fun night with no real work on our part.

One last thing: Shop at Whole Foods Markets on Tuesday, August 9 and 5 percent will benefit the Arts Beats and Eats Foundation. This helps all of us because it will cover some of the costs of producing t