Wayne State is seven-time winner in Michigan Gift of Life Campus Challenge
Thanks to friendly rivalries of students at 14 Michigan colleges and universities, more than 1,400 Michigan residents signed up on the Michigan Organ Donor Registry in the past five weeks.
Throughout the 15th annual Gift of Life Michigan Campus Challenge, students competed to sign up the most people as organ, tissue and eye donors. Success was achieved by staffing tables on campus, sharing clever graphics on social media, publishing articles in school newspapers and sharing facts about donation with friends and family. Students at three schools – Wayne State, Grand Valley and Northern Michigan – took over Gift of Life Michigan’s Instagram account for one day each, using the platform to inspire other students to sign up as donors.
When the competition ended on February 21, two schools came out ahead. For the seventh consecutive time, Wayne State University signed up the most new donor registrants (465) in the Campus Challenge. Siena Heights University signed up the most donors compared with its student population (6 percent). Both schools will receive trophies in celebration of their achievements.
“We are thrilled with the results of this college donor drive competition,” said Dorrie Dils, chief executive officer of Gift of Life Michigan. “Through their efforts to sign up residents on the Donor Registry, these students have given the gift of hope to the 3,327 Michigan patients currently waiting for an organ transplant and tens of thousands more in need of tissue and cornea transplants.”
The Gift of Life Campus Challenge is one of the most successful organ donation college outreach programs in the nation and has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services for its exceptional results. Since its inception in 2004, the Gift of Life Campus Challenge has inspired more than 40,000 people to join the state’s Donor Registry. Gift of Life Michigan is the state’s federally designated organ and tissue recovery organization, which acts as intermediary between donors, their families and hospital staff. Gift of Life Michigan, in collaboration with Eversight Michigan, provides all services necessary for organ, tissue and eye donation.
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A full list of participating colleges and universities, and their final scores in the Campus Challenge, is available at giftoflifemichigan.org/campus-challenge. Student leaders on each campus are available for interviews. Please contact Jennifer Tislerics at Gift of Life Michigan, jtislerics@golm.org or 734- 922-1048.
To add your name to the Michigan Organ Donor Registry visit giftoflifemichigan.org, call 866-500- 5801 or visit any Secretary of State office.
