Date:	December 17, 2013
To:	University of Toronto Community
From:	U of T Campaign Team
Re:	University of Toronto, Trillium Gift of Life Network Partner to Launch Faculty, Staff and Student Campaign

In January 2014, the University of Toronto, in partnership with the Trillium Gift of Life Network, will embark on a campaign to increase organ and tissue donations in Ontario.

We’re asking for your help in spreading the word about this Campaign.

At any given time in Ontario, 1,500 men, women and children are waiting for a life-saving organ transplant. Every three days, one of them dies waiting.

Just one organ donor can save up to eight lives.

In the Greater Toronto Area we have a great opportunity to stop this trend. Despite its large population, the Greater Toronto Area has a low number of registered donors.

On our campuses alone we have thousands of students, faculty and staff members.

As a community leader, the University of Toronto wants to help increase the numbers of registered donors. Throughout January there will be a large effort underway to engage our students, faculty and staff and to encourage as many as possible to register online. For instance, student leaders will be setting up information booths across all three campuses and creating their own inspirational video to promote the campaign.

We have set a goal of 4,000 registrations by the end of January. All people need to register their consent is their health card and access to this website: https://beadonor.ca/uoft.

You will be able to track our progress on that site as well.

There’s a good chance you already support this case – 80 per cent of Ontarians say that giving consent for organ and tissue donation in advance is very important to them, although fewer than 25 per cent have actually registered to be organ and tissue donors.

In this Season of Giving, we would like to thank you in advance for your support.

If you have questions or concerns about organ and tissue donation or want to learn more, visit https://beadonor.ca/about-donation/faqs.
For more information, please contact these members of the U of T Campaign team:

Nicole Bodnar, Media Relations & Communications Specialist, Faculty of Medicine
Katy Francis, Director, Strategic Communications, Human Resources & Equity
Meredith Strong, Director, Office of the Vice-Provost, Students & Student Policy Advisor