Citrone Foundation Inc

I recently volunteered for The Citrone Foundation's Play It Forward Pittsburgh events, whose goal it was to increase the Organ Donor Registration list, in the Pittsburgh area. This was the first campaign PIFP has directed, and they did a great job. As with a first-time event, there were some bumps along the way:

(1.) Underestimated the number of giveaways for each event. The events that I volunteered at ran out of shirts and were low on sizes.

(2.) Some issues with communications, but as a first time campaign, volunteers got the messages, eventually, although at the last minute

(3.) Since this particular campaign focused on local sports figures, and the potential of the local community as potential organ donors, it would have been nice to have the entire campaign developed, finalized and monitored by a local (Pittsburgh) advertising/marketing agency.

As a volunteer and a kidney transplant recipient of 18 years, this campaign really connected to everyone, whether you were a fan or not, featuring players from the Steelers, Penguins. and Pirates was a terrific connection, especially since one of the athletes (retired) received a heart transplant, (possibly could have used him in a higher profile). Here is a sample of the local sports stars used in a print campaign: Cam Heyward (Steelers), Chris Letang (Penguins), Ben Roethlisberger (Steelers), Francisco Cervelli (Pirates), Kent Tekulve (Pirates and a Heart TX Recipient), Brett Keisel (Steelers).

This was a fun event for me and my fellow volunteers, most of them transplant recipients, which helped when potential donors would speak of their concerns about donating, we would step right up and tell our story., which in a small way helps seal the deal.

Hope they do this again in 2018, with a little better planning and tighter communications, this will be a terrific event, and more successful than 2017.

Rich Morgan
Team Allegheny Transplant
President
Board of Directors