February 10, 2010

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Alabama Organ Center (AOC) will hold its annual "Service of Remembrance" at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 21 in the Norton Theater of the Norton Campus Center at Birmingham-Southern College.

The non-denominational service honors the donors who gave the gift of life during the previous calendar year. Each donor family in attendance is presented with a bronze Gift of Life medallion and wind chimes. These tokens of appreciation serve to remind the family of their unselfish gift to a stranger.

Speakers will include Dem Lalisan, director of the Alabama Organ Center; Linda Fikes, donor mother; and Sharon Johnson-Woods, donor wife and recipient.

Each donor family is asked to bring a photo of their loved one to be displayed during the service and to write a tribute to their loved one to be read aloud as presentations are made. Families also may bring a quilt square to be incorporated into the Alabama Donor Family Quilt that travels around the state with AOC speakers to promote and educate about organ donation.

About the Alabama Organ Center

Established in 1979 as the Alabama Organ Bank, the Alabama Organ Center is the federally designated independent organ-procurement organization (OPO) for Alabama and serves all hospitals in the state. The mission of the Alabama Organ Center is to provide families an opportunity to donate organs and tissues, to support these families regardless of their decision and to promote equitable use of these gifts to others. The center's goal is to facilitate the donor process, to coordinate the recovery of organs and tissues for transplantation and research and to promote interest in the organ- and tissue-donor program. The Alabama Organ Center is committed to increasing knowledge about organ and tissue donation and transplantation through ongoing public and professional education programs.