Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown, with Donate Life Club students
Donate Life Club students from City Honors, Emerson and South Park High School went to Buffalo City Hall for Lobby Day on Monday, April 22nd. The students served as great ambassadors of the Donate Life mission. They advocated to common council members, explaining the importance of signing the NY State Donate Life Registry. The students even challenged Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown to host a blood drive and collect over 86 units of blood (to beat the top collecting school, South Park) Mayor Brown says he’s up for the challenge!
South District Council Member Christopher Scanlon, with Donate Life Club students
Fillmore District Council Member David Franczyk, along with Donate Life Club Students
The following blog was written by: Jamal Hamideh, South Park High School
Monday April 21, I attended the Unyts advocacy program where representatives from the company, myself and other students from various high schools such as Emerson and City Honors went to City Hall. We spoke to council members about the Donate Life program. We educated them of the benefits of organ, tissue and blood donations. It was a great learning experience for me and my peers and I feel very lucky to have been able to attend such an event.
We began our tour around the whole building including the observation deck on the 25th floor. I was stoked to meet mayor Byron Brown, as well as take photos with him and several other council members. At first I was very nervous to speak in front of people of such importance, but after a few tries I gained confidence after realizing that they’re normal people. We also gave them facts about how important it is to donate blood with Unyts, because it all stays local to save lives here in Western New York. Unyts saves hospitals millions of dollars on blood. We stressed the importance of city representatives to participate in spreading awareness and participating.
Overall, it was a great experience and I feel very proud to be a part of the whole program. Unyts is a very wonderful organization and is very active in the whole community of Western New York. Being there to advocate for Donate Life was a very beneficial experience for me, because I learned how the local political system operates, and the importance of every single person in that building. . Our group gave city hall and everybody in it a challenge, to match South Park’s blood donation rate of an average of 86 doners at each blood drive. The challenge was zealously accepted!
