National Partners Join Donate Life Hollywood to Help TV and Movies Tell Accurate Stories Concerning Organ Donation

LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Donate Life Hollywood announced today its first 20 partners in its historic effort to encourage authentic and accurate storylines in motion pictures and television concerning the power of organ, tissue and eye donation. These partners will help to bring to life the DLH signature initiatives, including the recently launched DLH Activate App and the soon-to-launch writer’s website, all of which are designed to help Hollywood tell stories that save lives.

Donate Life Hollywood is an initiative of OneLegacy and the OneLegacy Foundation, both of which are located in the heart of Los Angeles’ entertainment industry. “We are pleased to be able to underwrite the national expansion of Donate Life Hollywood as a means to broaden the voices of not only donation and transplant professionals but of the grassroots voice of donor families, recipients and registered donors from across the country,” says CEO Tom Mone.

DLH partners joining in this effort represent organizations from the donation and transplant community and encompass organ procurement organizations, tissue banks and transplant centers. They include the American Association of Tissue Banks, Ava’s Heart, Carolina Donor Services, Community Tissue Services, Donate Life California, Donor Alliance, Gift of Life Michigan, Indiana Donor Network, Iowa Donor Network, Life Alliance Organ Recovery Agency, Lifebanc, LifeLink of Florida, LifeLink of Georgia, LifeLink of Puerto Rico, LifeShare of Oklahoma, LiveOnNY, New Jersey Sharing Network and Trust for Life.

“Unlike most other subjects that are dramatized in Hollywood, the majority of the public has never actually experienced donation and thus do not have any information to counter what they see on the screen,” said Donate Life Hollywood Founder Tenaya Wallace. “The result is that they are highly influenced, positively or negatively, by the fictional account of a very real and serious topic. When Hollywood gets it wrong, it can cost lives. Donate Life Hollywood is there to help Hollywood get it right, and we are grateful to these exceptional partners who have stepped up and are joining us in this effort.”

Through Donate Life Hollywood, film companies, television programs, entertainment studios, producers and writers have access to a network of experts—from renowned transplant surgeons to families whose loved ones became an organ donor—for free consultations on all aspects of organ, eye and tissue donation and transplantation.

The DLH Activate App, launched in March, is a mobile platform that enables the donation community to respond rapidly to organ donation storylines appearing in television and film. Through this app people are able to react immediately to a negative storyline, support a positive storyline, learn about casting opportunities, upload real-life stories and more. Wallace calls it an “epic shift in the way advocates of organ donation and transplantation can help educate and positively influence the entertainment industry in an area where life and death topics are at stake.” The app can be downloaded on the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.

“We are here to help Hollywood tell our story … and it’s a story of hope, transformation and love,” said Wallace. “Our goal is to engage a wide cross section of organizations as well as those who have personally been touched by the power of donation and transplantation to be our partners in this effort.”

Organizations wanting to join in this initiative can find out more at sign up to be a DLH Partner. You can follow Donate Life Hollywood on Twitter at @DL_Hollywood, on Instagram at @DL_Hollywood or on Facebook at @DLHCampaign.

About OneLegacy

OneLegacy is a nonprofit organization dedicated to saving lives through organ, eye and tissue donation in seven counties in Southern California: Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura, Santa Barbara and Kern. It serves more than 200 hospitals, 11 transplant centers and a diverse population of nearly 20 million, the largest independent donation region in the world. For more information, visit onelegacy.org.

Contacts

Tenaya Wallace

310-359-3631

twallace@onelegacy.org