San Francisco Citywide Revival Celebrates 15 Years Of Encouraging Organ Donation And Health
(San Francisco, CA) March 15, 2019 – The San Francisco Citywide Revival, an annual event that promotes health, wellness, and organ donation among African American communities of faith in the Bay Area, is celebrating its 15th anniversary. The event is a partnership between Donor Network West, the organ and tissue recovery organization for Northern California and Nevada, and the Baptist Ministry Conference and Adjacent Cities.
African Americans are overrepresented on the waitlist for organ transplants in Donor Network West’s federally designated service area of 40 counties. The percentage of individuals waiting for an organ in this community is double their population base in Northern California and Nevada. Data from the last three years reveal that the families of potential African American organ donors, particularly in the East Bay, decline donation at the highest rate of any ethnic group.
The San Francisco Citywide Revival, which takes place March 18-21, will bring together 3,500 worshipers for nightly fellowship services at St. John Missionary Baptist Church in San Francisco. Attendees will have the opportunity to register as organ donors and hear messages that focus on wellness, including organ and tissue donation, healthy meal preparation, diabetes prevention, overcoming obesity, nutrition, and environmental hazards. Donor Network West’s CEO, Janice F. Whaley, will share a message of hope on the final evening of the Revival: Thursday, March 21.
Ms. Whaley will join June R. Wallace, Community Development Liaison for Donor Network West. A proud native of the Bayview-Hunters Point community, Ms. Wallace has served as the Revival’s coordinator since its inception in 2004.
“A healthy community means healthy organs and people. While we encourage everyone to have a conversation about organ donation with their loved ones and to register as donors, we also remind them to take care of themselves so they can stay off the transplant waitlist,” says June Wallace.
Ms. Wallace has been championing healthy communities in conjunction with organ donation for nearly two decades. For her advocacy and work in the community, she received the 2019 San Francisco Chapter National Coalition of 100 Black Women Inc. Award as well as the Susan B. Anthony Women of Achievement Award. The awards were in the Community Services and Health Care categories, respectively.
June R. Wallace, Donor Network West Community Development Liaison
The theme for the 2019 Revival is “Choose life so you and your descendants may live.”- Deuteronomy 30:19. Participants will have access to free diabetes, cholesterol, BMI, and hypertension screenings as part of a four-hour health education and wellness corridor hosted by Donor Network West. For more information, visit the San Francisco Citywide Revival page.
Nearly 10,000 people wait for a life-saving organ transplant in Northern California and Nevada. One organ donor can save the lives of up to eight people and a tissue donor can heal 75 others. Anyone can register as a donor at DonorNetworkWest.org or at the DMV.