2012 Donate Life Rose Parade® Float Imagines ...One More Day to Celebrate
and Save Lives

Amid Beautiful Floral Timepieces and a 30-Foot Clock Tower, Organ, Eye and Tissue Donors and Recipients Reinforce the Preciousness of Time

LOS ANGELES, CA, June 14, 2011 -- Ask anyone whose loved one gave life in their passing, or anyone waiting for a life-saving organ transplant what they wish for most. Many would answer the same way: more time. On Jan. 2, 2012, transplant recipients, living donors, and family members of deceased donors will join together to honor the preciousness of ...One More Day on the ninth Donate Life Rose Parade float entry, a partnership of more than 100 organizations dedicated to inspiring people to save and heal lives through the donation of organs, eyes and tissue.

"Donate Life's float theme is a deeply emotional coda to the 2012 Rose Parade theme, Just Imagine...", said Bryan Stewart, chairman of the Donate Life Rose Parade Float Committee and vice president of communications at OneLegacy, the nonprofit organ and tissue recovery organization serving the greater Los Angeles area. "The opportunity to live, or relive, a precious moment in time inspires us to Just Imagine...One More Day when donor families are reunited with loved ones, transplant recipients thrive, and living and registered donors step forward so that a life-saving transplant is available to everyone in need."

With a design inspired by floral clocks and clock towers from around the world, the 2012 Donate Life Rose Parade float will carry up to 28 donor family members, living donors, and transplant recipients. Six enormous floral timepieces will be adorned with 64 memorial "floragraphs" (floral portraits) of deceased donors whose gifts gave life and time to so many. A rose dedication garden honors more than 3,000 people worldwide; each rose will bear a vial with a personal message honoring a loved one. Anchoring the float is a 30-foot clock tower with a sun/moon dial reminding us to make each passing day count.

The Donate Life Rose Parade float has become the nation's most visible campaign to inspire people to become organ, eye, and tissue donors. The concept originated with lung recipient Gary Foxen of Orange, Calif., who wanted to express gratitude to donors who make transplantation possible. Now, in addition to the 40 million viewers who will see the Rose Parade, dozens of events are held in cities and towns around the country to put the finishing touches on floragraph portraits and present dedicated roses to donor families. This last year alone, the Donate Life float generated more than 500 media stories nationwide.

"Since the Donate Life float made its first appearance in 2004, more than 50 million Americans have signed up as donors on their state donor registries," said David Fleming, president and CEO of Donate Life America. "However, the circumstances that allow for organ donation are very rare, so just as every day counts, so does every donation opportunity. We hope that anyone who has not yet registered will be inspired by Donate Life’s float to join the 100 million Americans who have checked 'Yes' for donation when applying for or renewing their driver's license or identification card."

The 2012 Donate Life float is built by Phoenix Decorating Co. from a design by Dave Pittman and is coordinated by Donate Life America member OneLegacy. The Donate Life float campaign is supported by more than 100 official sponsorsfrom coast to coast, including organ and tissue recovery organizations, tissue banks, state donor registries, transplant centers, hospitals, funeral homes and affiliated organizations. Joining OneLegacy as top-level benefactors are the Dignity Memorial® network, North America's largest network of funeral, cremation and cemetery service providers; the American Association of Tissue Banks (AATB); Donate Life America; and the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) and the National Donor Memorial. All Donate Life float sponsors encourage parade viewers to save lives by registering in their states to be organ, eye and tissue donors and donating blood in their communities.

For information call Rivian Bell, JDI Communications, (213) 612-4927 or Bryan Stewart, (213) 229-5650.