Donate Life Colition of Michigan

Monthly Updates

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

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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.

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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.

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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

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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 22nd

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
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.

April '06

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

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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.

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March '06

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)

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February '06

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!

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January '06

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!

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