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Student Resources

Program Descriptions:

Donate Life (formerly Life Lessons) - developing campaigns among teens to increase awareness about organ and tissue donation

Life Lessons started in the fall of 2004 after UNYTS and the University of Buffalo (UB) were awarded a three year grant from the Department of Health and Human Services to fund its creation and implementation.

Today this multidisciplinary program (now known as Donate Life) assists groups of students at area high schools in the planning, development and implementation of a campaign to increase awareness about organ and tissue donation among their peers. Students involved in the group at their school have an opportunity to develop leadership and communication skills and acquire a working knowledge of multiple aspects of establishing and managing an organization. Involvement in Donate Life provides students with skills they can apply in future academic and work related activities.

Components of Donate Life are:

Donation education – Representatives from UNYTS explain the facts about organ, tissue, eye and blood donation and clear up common misconceptions.
Research – An expert from UB explains to students how the effectiveness of their campaign will be measured through surveys.
Public relations & campaign development – A representative from UNYTS will assist students in the development of ideas and campaign implementation.
Leadership & public speaking – Donate Life group members will participate in sessions led by the Youth Character Development Foundation.

Program Resources:

A Guide to Organ and Tissue Discussions - (PDF, 274 KB)

Donate Life Program Campaign Ideas - (PDF, 587 KB)

Talk It Up!

The Talk It Up! program provides information about organ and tissue donation to middle and high school students through classroom presentation. The goals of Talk It Up! are: to provide students with information about the lifesaving benefits of donation; to motivate students to initiate a family discussion about organ and tissue donation; and to answer questions and counter common misconceptions about donation. Presentations are conducted by trained staff and volunteers, all of whom have a personal connection to donation and transplantation. Components of the presentation include a video featuring area youth and an interactive game.

For more information on our school based programs please contact us at mhill@unyts.org or call 716.566.3928.

Also, visit the United Network for Organ Sharing web site at www.unos.org