The 2020 Donate Life Float Highlights the Lifesaving Power of Organ, Eye and Tissue Donation
PASADENA, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#donatelife–More than 450 Donate Life Rose Parade® float participants and their families, including float riders, walkers, family members of floragraph honorees, and sponsors representing 60 cities and 26 U.S. states, will arrive in Pasadena this coming Sunday to be part of the 131st Tournament of Roses Parade presented by Honda on Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2020. This year’s theme, “The Power of Hope,” celebrates the influence of hope. With hope anything, in fact everything, is possible.
The 2020 Donate Life Rose Parade float, “Light in the Darkness,” will highlight the power of unity, light and love as celebrated during Southeast Asia’s Diwali, or the Festival of Lights, a celebration of light shining in the darkness. The float will be element number 84 on the parade’s lineup.
“Every year we welcome hundreds of participants and their families, who travel from around the country to Pasadena to be honored on the Donate Life float,” said Tom Mone, Chairman of the Donate Life Rose Parade float committee and CEO of OneLegacy, the nonprofit organ, eye and tissue recovery organization that produces the Donate Life float every year. “We look forward to sharing their amazing stories that highlight the transformational power of organ, eye and tissue donation, and to help inspire millions of people who watch the Rose Parade nationwide to register as donors.”
The 2020 Donate Life float will feature:
- 8 walkers, including living donors as well as organ and tissue recipients.
- 18 riders who are organ, eye and tissue recipients.
- 44 floragraphs depicting organ, eye and tissue donors who gave the gift of life to others.
The 2020 Donate Life float walkers include Lacey Wood, a 30-year-old heart and kidney recipient from California who received a lifesaving heart transplant as an infant and a kidney from her brother when she was a teen. Heidi Miller from Laguna Beach, California, is an entrepreneur and a two-time living donor, donating bone marrow to help save a friend and later a kidney to save the life of an acquaintance. David Rozelle is an 82-year-old retired university professor who received a heart transplant in 2001. An avid walker who has also ran marathons and won several medals, he is the oldest float walker in history!
Bios of all eight Donate Life float walkers are available here: https://donatelifefloat.org/wp/2020-walkers/.
Float Riders
This year’s float riders include Jessica de Paz, a 43-year-old cancer survivor from Miami, Florida, who received a nerve allograft transplant to restore sensation to her chest after a mastectomy; Khalieghya Dandie-Evans, a 17-year-old student from California, who received a liver from a 4-year-old boy when she was only 6 months; and Jhett Skaggs, a 13-year-old student and avid golfer from Lexington, Oklahoma, who is a two-time heart transplant recipient.
Bios to the 2020 Donate Life float riders are available here: https://donatelifefloat.org/wp/2020-riders/.
Floragraph Honorees
Forty-four donors, who gave the ultimate gift of life to save and heal others through the power of organ, eye and tissue donation, will be represented on the 2020 Donate Life float with floral portraits made out of organic materials, such as rice, farina, coffee, flax seeds and cinnamon.
Floragraph honorees this year include:
- Alessandro Speroni, an Italian chef and avid surfer who lived in San Diego, California, saved four lives through organ donation.
- Doug Stewart, a two-time liver recipient, participated in numerous Transplant Games and donated his corneas upon his passing.
- Marissa Louise Tudor, a nursing student whose parents honor her memory by donating hairbrushes to hospital patients with flowing hair, like Marissa’s, every year.
Bios to all 44 floragraph honorees for the 2020 Donate Life float are available here: https://donatelifefloat.org/wp/2020-floragraphs/.
The Donate Life Rose Parade float is produced by OneLegacy, designed by Charles Meier, built by Fiesta Parade Floats and made possible thanks to more than 53 sponsors.
As the world’s most visible campaign to inspire organ, eye and tissue donation, the Donate Life Rose Parade float inspires viewers to help the over 1 million people in need of organ, eye or tissue transplants each year. Register today to become an organ, eye or tissue donor by visiting DonateLife.net.
Contacts
Tania Llavaneras
213-229-5654
[email protected]
Ross Goldberg
818-597-8453, x-1
[email protected]
