WOODLAND HILLS : Organ Recipients to Gather, Give Thanks
One thousand balloons will float through the air above Warner Park Sunday, carrying with them the thanks of people who have been given a second shot at life and the hope that others will get that same chance.
Several hundred organ-transplant recipients will gather at the park to honor the memory of their donors and give thanks.
And they will release the “environmentally safe” balloons that carry organ donor cards in the hope that whoever finds the cards will fill them out.
Printed on the balloons are the words: “Don’t take your organs to heaven. . . . Heaven knows we need them here!”
“There’s an enormous long waiting list for people waiting for organs,” said Barbara Schulman, a registered nurse and adviser to the Los Angeles chapter of the Transplant Recipients International Organization, a support group for recipients and their families. “Each donor can donate about seven different organs and many different tissues.”
Sunday begins national Organ Donor Awareness Week, but Schulman said: “Donor Awareness Week starts every day for these people.”
The several hundred recipients and family members will gather at the park at 9 a.m., and their picnic will begin about 11.
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