Community Corner

NJ Advocates Make Pitch For Organ Donation At Event In Newark

If there's anyone who knows the life-changing potential of an organ donation, it's Newark resident Denise Peoples.

NJ Sharing Network hosts its “Live Healthy and Move” event at Vailsburg Park in Newark.
NJ Sharing Network hosts its “Live Healthy and Move” event at Vailsburg Park in Newark. (Photo courtesy of NJ Sharing Network)

NEWARK, NJ — If there’s anyone who knows the life-changing potential of an organ donation, it’s New Jersey resident Denise Peoples.

Peoples – the recipient of a double-lung transplant – was among the attendees at NJ Sharing Network’s recent “Live Healthy and Move” event at Vailsburg Park in Newark. Guests enjoyed lively music, free health screenings, interactive fitness programs and family-friendly games – all while learning about the “lifesaving power of organ and tissue donation.”

According to the NJ Sharing Network, minority organ donors are especially needed: out of nearly 4,000 New Jersey residents are waiting for a lifesaving transplant, 67 percent are people of color.

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“Within our communities of color, we have all experienced how health issues such as hypertension, diabetes and kidney failure have impacted those around us: our mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, friends and neighbors,” said Peoples, the senior manager of community services at NJ Sharing Network.

Learn more about organ donation in New Jersey here.

Find out what's happening in Newarkfor free with the latest updates from Patch.

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