Donor Center of Hawaii Volunteer Bureau

Organ Donor Center of Hawaii is always receiving requests for health fairs, presentation, and information. Many of our Ohana have joined the campaign to increase organ and tissue donation.

These are the volunteers who make up the Organ Donor Center of Hawaii Volunteer Bureau. They include donor family members, transplant candidates, transplant patients, healthcare professionals and others with a special interest in donation and transplantation advocacy.

Each year, hundreds of volunteers help to increase public awareness of the critical need for organ and tissue donation by providing numerous public education programs for civic groups, schools and businesses.

• Events/Health Fairs
  Volunteers participate in National Organ and Tissue Donor Awareness Month programs, Dance for Life, National Donor Sabbath observances, health fairs, presentations and many other events throughout the year. Their roles include setting up displays, answering questions and sharing personal experiences.
• Media/Speaking Engagements
  The personal experiences of a transplant recipient or donor family member is the best way to truly illustrate the miracle of organ and tissue donation. Volunteers are often asked to speak with the media or share their experience in presentations to schools, churches, hospitals and other professionals and other community groups.
• Volunteer Training
  Volunteers attend a training course to learn more about Organ Donor Center of Hawaii, our mission and the facts about organ and tissue donation, prior to volunteering.  Sessions are typically held twice a year. Visit our calendar for a current listing of programs scheduled. To attend or learn more about becoming a volunteer to help with programs in your area, contact Christine Bogee or Tony Sagayadoro at 877-855-0603. Also contact us if you have organized or will participate in a program not included on our calendar, so that we can include it in our listings

Volunteers – Ways You Can Help

• Wear a green ribbon, wristband or t-shirt to show your support for organ and tissue donation. Make additional ribbons, wristbands and t-shirts available to family, friends and co-workers.  
• Arrange for your company to place donation brochures in everyone's paycheck or have a stand with brochure in the lobby area.  
• Arrange for your club or fraternal organization to schedule a presentation or be an included in a program to share about organ and tissue donation.  
• Write a letter to the editor of your local paper encouraging people to become organ and tissue donors and to tell their families.  
• Call your local newspaper, radio and television stations and ask them to use the Coalition on Donation public service announcements.  
• Distribute donor awareness materials at the local block party or get a display at a summer fair.  
• Call your local high school principal or middle school superintendent to encourage their use of the donation and transplantation curriculum available through Organ Donor Center of Hawaii.  
• Contact your alma mater about distributing materials to students or setting up a display during National Organ and Tissue Donor Awareness Month in April.  
• Scan your Rolodex for any connections you may have in the community - corporate partnerships are a great way for us to reach lots of people at once.  
• Encourage your church or synagogue to participate in National Donor Sabbath, held each November two weekends before Thanksgiving.

Program supplies

Supplies available to volunteers holding public education events include general brochures, handouts on religious views, statistics, commonly asked questions, donation process, donor cards, key chains, pencils and pens. To order materials for your public education programs, please contact: Christine Bogee or Tony Sagayadoro at 1-877-855-0603.

Talking About Donation

As a transplant recipient or donor family member, your experience is the best way to truly illustrate the miracle of organ and tissue donation. Here are some tips in sharing your personal experience as part of presentations to schools, churches, healthcare professionals and other community groups. After sharing your personal story, it is important to:

1. Share facts and figures to illustrate the need for donors. Refer to the Statistics/Information section of this Web site.
2. Address the myths that stop people from choosing to donate.
3. Be sure the audience knows the steps to becoming a donor: Sign a donor card, place it on their license, and tell your family.

If you are unsure of the answer to a question, refer the individual to Organ Donor Center of Hawaii at 1-877-855-0603 or take their name and contact information. An Organ Donor Center of Hawaii staff member can follow up with the information requested.