Strawberry Crest FBLA Members Become Student Organ Donor Advocates

DOVER, FL — Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) is an organization that prepares over 230,000 members for a business career, making them better leaders.

The Strawberry Crest FBLA chapter has always prioritized giving back to the community. This school year, its Community Service Project - the Gift of Life, led by three FBLA members — Aditi Nair, Anika Prasad and Elizabeth Chettipally — focused on an important topic, organ and tissue donation.

"Organ and tissue donation are powerful gifts that can completely change someone's life, as well as their friends' and families' lives," Prasad said. The statistics from Donate Life America show that an organ donor can save eight lives, a cornea donor can restore the sight of 2 people, and one tissue donor can heal the lives of 75 people.

Although there have been advances in the medical field, the demand for organ, eye and tissue donation exceeds the number of donors. Currently, in the United States, over 100,000 people are on the waiting list for life-saving organ transplants.

"The need for organ donors is so critical that we felt the need to start a Student Organ Donation Advocates (SODA) chapter at our school," Prasad said. SODA is an organization that supports students who want to start a chapter or host awareness events to save lives.

FBLA's community service project, the Gift of Life, began with the school's establishment of a SODA chapter and the FBLA chapter's recognition of SODA's impact in saving people's lives. Starting a SODA chapter at school gave students a chance to educate and raise awareness about organ donation and participate in several drives.

The project began with members creating flyers and setting up booths to inform the community about the necessity of organ donation. They also held a social discussing the benefits of organ donation and how members can be more involved with the project. As a result, several members came up with new ideas and plans on what else the chapter could do to help bridge the unmet organ and tissue donation gap.

Undoubtedly, there is a shortage and need for organ donation, and the event can be highly traumatic for the family members. With that in mind, the students wanted to raise awareness for the cause and simultaneously support the donor families who are often at the hospital beside their loved ones for a few days to several months.

The FBLA chapter supported donor families during these stressful times by partnering with Tampa General Hospital. Students organized toiletry and blanket drives and put together Holiday Craft Kits for donor families experiencing a traumatic event.

One focus of the project leaders was to support as many families as possible and maximize the number of students involved in these efforts. The kits consisted of handwritten thank-you notes, paint, an ornament, a sticker sheet and an encouraging message for the donor family. Thanks to its outstanding members, the students made and donated 100 craft kits to Tampa General Hospital.

With the participation and involvement of all its club members, the Gift of Life project has been a great success. It has helped to make a difference and save lives.

"Organ donation can change someone's life, and SODA gave us an incredible opportunity to advocate for the cause. In addition, we were able to educate our peers and community," Prasad said. The Crest FBLA chapter plans to continue such events to keep serving the community.

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