National Donor Events

National Donor Sabbath

Each year, the eye, organ and tissue banking communities observe National Donor Sabbath two weekends before Thanksgiving.

During this interfaith celebration of life, faith leaders who choose to participate in discussions about donation encourage members of their congregations to become eye, organ and tissue donors in order to share the gifts of sight and life with others. The goal of the weekend is to get American families to think about donation and to understand the importance of talking as a family about the decision to donate.

What can you do to celebrate National Donor Sabbath and get your home congregation involved in spreading the word about donation?

• Attend a National Donor Sabbath event in your area.
• Send a letter or email to the leadership at your place of worship telling them about National Donor Sabbath and explain how you'd like the congregation to observe the celebration.
• Offer to speak or arrange for a speaker at your service, youth class or adult ministry group.
• Set up an informational table at your place of worship and hold a donor card drive to encourage people in your community to become donors.
• Organize a candle-lighting ceremony to commemorate donors, donor families and recipients.
• Host a donor awareness workshop, prayer breakfast or health fair with information about donation and presentations by donor families and recipients.

Heartland Lions Eye Banks is a great resource that can help you implement any of these ideas. For more information or to gain access to educational materials, please contact us at 1-800-238-1982 or pr@hleb.org.

National Eye Donor Month

Join the the Eye Bank in celebrating National Eye Donor Month (NEDM) in March 2013! This special time is set aside to honor tissue donors, donor families and cornea recipients and to educate others about the importance of becoming an eye donor.

Each year, approximately 46,000 Americans need a cornea transplant. By pledging to become an eye donor, you can give the "gift of sight" to others after you are gone. Becoming a donor is as simple as saying yes to donation when obtaining or renewing your driver's license or adding your name to your state's donor registry.

National Donate Life Month

While the eye banking community celebrates National Eye Donor Month in March, the entire month of April is celebrated by organ, tissue and eye banks as National Donate Life Month (NDLM). During NDLM, the Eye Bank honors donors, donor families and cornea recipients at local events in collaboration with other organ procurement agencies. To see a listing of our events in your community, please visit our events calendar.