Donate Life CA and Goodwill of OC Team Up for Innovative Donor Registration Initiative
Santa Ana, CA (April 2, 2021): This April for National Organ Donation Month, you can donate more than clothes and gently used items at Goodwill of Orange County stores โ you can donate life. Through an innovative partnership between Donate Life CA and Goodwill of Orange County, all Goodwill shoppers and donors will be given the opportunity to register as organ, eye and tissue donors.
Historically, most people register at the DMV when they get or renew their driverโs license, but this month, they will also be able to easily register as an organ donor when they drop off donations or shop at any Goodwill store in Orange County.
Each day, 20 people in the U.S. die waiting for an organ donation, and there are more than 100,000 people currently waiting for a lifesaving transplant. More than 22,000 people, or 20% of the national waiting list, are right here in California. The program, created by local ad agency Casanova//McCann, aims to significantly increase the number of registered organ donors here in O.C.
โWe are excited to be part of this initiative and to use our store and donation sites to change lives in a different way this month,โ said Nicole Suydam, President and CEO of Goodwill of Orange County. โOn average, we see 90,000 donors in April, so we have a unique opportunity to significantly impact the lives of so many in need.โ
โCalifornia still lags behind the national average of organ donors and our goal is to close that gap,โ Jim Martin, CEO, Donate Life CA said.โ We are grateful to partner with Goodwill of Orange County, a respected organization that has given us access to a whole new way to register donors.โ
โThis is our second initiative for Donate Life CA and our first with Goodwill of Orange County, and we couldnโt be more excited about it,โ said Ingrid Otero-Smart, President and CEO, Casanova//McCann. โLast time we increased registrations by 19% and it is our goal to beat that number with this initiativeโ.
About Goodwill of Orange CountyGoodwill of Orange County helps people facing barriers find and keep jobs, which provides purpose, pride, and dignity. Since its inception in 1924, Goodwill has supported hundreds of thousands of individuals through quality training and education programs, supportive employment services for people with developmental and physical disabilities, on-site job coaching, community integration programs, veteran employment services, and more. The nonprofit operates a collection of 25 retail venues throughout Orange County, including five OC Goodwill Boutiques and its ecommerce platformย shopgoodwill.com, to support these life-changing programs and services. To learn more about Goodwill of Orange County, visitย ocgoodwill.org.
About Donate Life California:
The Donate Life California Organ & Tissue Donor Registry is the nonprofit, state-authorized organ, eye and tissue donor registry. As a public service, the registry assures that all personal information is kept confidential and stored in a secure database, accessible only to authorized organ and tissue recovery personnel at the time of an actual donation opportunity. The registry is administered by Donate Life California and Californiaโs four nonprofit,ย federally designated organ recovery organizations: Donor Network West, Lifesharing, OneLegacy and Sierra Donor Services. For more information about Donate Life California; how organ, eye and tissue donation saves and improves lives; and to sign up, please visit www.donateLIFEcalifornia.org or in Spanish at www.doneVIDAcalifornia.org.
About Casanova//McCann:
Casanova//McCann is one of the leading Hispanic integrated communications agencies in the U.S. and the most awarded Hispanic agency in Cannes the past two years. Founded in 1984, the company is headquartered in Costa Mesa, CA, with N.Y. and Detroit offices. It handles Hispanic advertising and integrated communications services for Fortune 500 clients like Nestlรฉ, Chevrolet, US Postal Service, Cigna, and Coca-Cola, among others. Casanova has been affiliated with Interpublic Group of Companies since 1999 and became a minority, female-owned, in October 2020. For more information about Casanova//McCann, visitย www.Casanova.com.
For additional information, contact:
Nicole Morrison (Goodwill of OC) 562-773-9910
Ruy Laredo (Donate Life CA) 916-678-6046
Ingrid Smart (Casanova) 949-300-2967