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Health

Donate Life NC commemorates National Minority Donor Awareness Month

Aug. 10. The Decision Project, a program funded by Donate Life North Carolina to spread awareness about organ donation in multicultural communities, will join forces with other nationwide groups to commemorate National Minority Donor Awareness Month this month. 

With outreach in the Charlotte region and throughout the state, The Decision Project hopes to raise awareness of the campaign supported by the North Carolina Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities. 

“We have to continue to normalize organ donation in our historically marginalized, minority and under-served communities in order to save lives,” said Cornell P. White, executive director of  North Carolina Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities. “By honoring donors and recipients during National Minority Donor Awareness Month, we hope to continue having conversations about this important need in our community.”

The month will be commemorated regionally with a drive-by school supply giveaway in partnership with C.W. Williams Community Health Center Inc. in Charlotte, a virtual game day series and a video series dispelling common myths and misconceptions about organ donation by partners including the American Diabetes Association, National Kidney Foundation and the North Carolina Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities.

National Minority Donor Awareness Month will also highlight the story of North Carolina donor recipient Courtney Waring, who has spoken at numerous Donate Life events about her heart transplant from a donor.

“I’m celebrating the second anniversary of receiving my heart,” said Rock Hill School District  teacher Courtney Waring. “National Minority Donor Awareness Month takes a special meaning, particularly when you were literally given the gift of life, and I am happy to celebrate with others this month.”

National Minority Donor Awareness Month, which runs through Aug. 31, stems from the original National Minority Donor Awareness Week that was founded in 1996 to bring heightened awareness to donation and transplantation in multicultural communities. 

Outreach activities during this month include events and messaging to provide donation education, encourage donor registration, and promote healthy living and disease prevention to decrease the need for transplantation. 

The initiative will focus on African American, Asian/Pacific Islander, Latinx and Native American groups.