April 4, 2019 · 0 Comments
By Brian Lockhart
The Amaranth Lions Club is encouraging local businesses to support awareness for organ donation by displaying a green ribbon in their store front. Green ribbons are the symbol of organ donation support and the Lions are asking businesses to display the ribbon for ‘a day, a week, or a whole month.’
They are also asking that businesses create and display a personal message of support in a store window or on a sandwich board sign in front of a store.
The Lions will show a photo of a support message on social media.
The Lions are supporters of Be A Donor month and the Trillium Gift of Life – Ontario’s organ and tissue donation agency.
“During Be A Donor Month, we are encouraging people to give hope to those who wait now, by registering their consent to donate to give the gift of life in the future,” explained Lions Club member Michelle White.
It takes four ‘touches’ before people usually act on a request.
When introduced, quite often the response is that they didn’t know about something. The second time, they ‘remember hearing about it.’ The third touch acts as a reminder. The fourth time times is when people usually respond and act on a commitment.
“When 85 per cent of people support donation but only 42 per cent have registered consent to do so, we think that they need those ‘touches’ along the way to remind them to act,” Ms. White said.
The green ribbons serve as the reminder.
A check on donation statistics in Ontario reveal that there are currently over 1600 people waiting for a life saving organ transplant in the province. One person dies every three days while on the wait list.
One organ donor has the potential to save eight lives. One tissue donor has the potential to improve the quality of life for 75 people.
In Orangeville around 42 per cent of residents have actually registered the consent to donate their organs.
For the past two years, the Lions in cooperation with the Town of Orangeville have hung green ribbons on the lamp posts and trees along Broadway.
The Amaranth Lions are hoping for full support of businesses in town to assist them in helping spread awareness of this important life-saving decision.