Donation Celebrations bring donation and transplantation community together in Montana

At the beginning of the month, we hosted our annual Montana Donation Celebrations in Billings and Missoula. These events are hosted in collaboration with our donation partner, SightLife, and give the organ, eye, and tissue donation community an opportunity gather together to honor a powerful gift. Our theme this year, “Every act of kindness creates a ripple” served as symbolize the kindness of donors as a rock that creates ripples of gratitude and generosity in so many of our lives.

A river rock was placed at each seat. These “ripple rocks” served as a palette for celebrating donation and cultivating gratitude. People were encouraged to decorate these with the names of their loved ones or donors, inspirational messages or quotes, or pictures. At the end of the celebration, we instructed people to take their rock it someplace special-a favorite hiking trail, on a desk at work, a neighborhood park. We want these rocks to serve as a reminder to spread kindness, empathy, and compassion for anyone who encounters it. We hope these help beautify the world a bit and maybe brighten somebody’s day.

These gatherings provide an opportunity for the unique community touched in some way by the gift of organ, eye, and tissue donation to come together, share stories, grieve, rejoice, heal- together in a safe, supportive environment.

Donor families, transplant recipients, hospital partners, donation professionals, and those waiting on the transplant list, gathered for lunch and a program that included stories shared by transplant recipients, and words from LifeCenter Northwest and SightLife leadership. We also shared a video in honor of the gift of life during our program at the celebrations. Click here to watch the video and visit our photo site to view all the pictures from our Montana events!

Organ, eye, and tissue donation is a gift that provides solace to some, life to others, and serves as the act of kindness instigating ripples of hope and healing. We would like to sincerely thank everyone who came out to these celebrations!

Our Washington Donation Celebrations will be held on Saturday, July 20 in Spokane, and Sunday, August 4 in Bellevue. If you are interested in attending, visit our event page to register!