Gift8Lives' First Club Meeting and Libraries for Life!

Hello everyone, and welcome to this month's blog post! This is a really special blog post because it's all about Gift8Lives' first club meeting at Troy High, and the Libraries for Life event we hosted. Let's get started.

First Meeting at Troy High

Our first meeting was a success! Around 30 people came to learn more about Gift8Lives, our plans for the rest of the school year, and organ donation in general.

Libraries for Life

Since 2010, libraries across Michigan have participated in this simple and effective campaign to educate patrons about organ, tissue, and eye donation and to encourage them to join the Michigan Organ Donor Registry. This effort was originally spearheaded by the University of Michigan’s Taubman Health Sciences Library but has expanded to include public, academic, special, and hospital libraries across the state. This collaborative effort has inspired nearly 4,000 people to sign up as donors!

More than 95% of Americans support organ, tissue and eye donation. In Michigan, only 62% of adults have joined the state’s donor registry. That discrepancy is largely due to state residents not knowing how to join the donor registry, or having unanswered questions about donation. Michigan Libraries for Life helps to address that informational need.

At Troy High, we hosted a table in the library where we talked to over 60 people about organ/tissue donation! Troy High's Media center is the first high school library to participate in Michigan Libraries for Life.