Family Spotlight

Meet Steven Gonzalez … A COTA Miracle

Steven Gonzalez, who will turn 15 on July 20th, is living proof that miracles do happen. However, several years ago when Steven’s parents were told their 12-year-old son had acute myelogenous leukemia and he had a two percent chance of survival, celebrating his 15th birthday did not seem possible. According to Rosie Gonzalez, “The day of the diagnosis, the sky opened up and flooded Houston as if all creation was sharing in our immense pain.”

The Gonzalez family soon found out their medical insurance would not cover the cost of the search for a bone marrow donor for their son. During this turmoil, they were introduced to the Children’s Organ Transplant Association (COTA) and their friends and family members quickly mobilized to help raise funds. These funds were used to hold bone marrow registration drives in Hispanic communities in Texas including Houston, El Paso, San Antonio; and in New Jersey, New Mexico and California. The result? Steven had 10 matches from the registry and countless others benefited from the new registrations, too.

Steven endured four intense chemotherapy treatments between October 2006 and early February 2007 -- on February 13th he received his transplant … and his second chance at life. The entire Gonzalez family believed Steven’s prognosis would be excellent, and they kept that hope alive by visiting Steven’s COTA website daily and reading the prayers and encouraging messages from friends and strangers alike.

According to Steven’s father, “COTA is a visible expression of the incredible hearts that surrounds us; and represents a larger community of strangers who we will be forever indebted to, but will likely never meet. COTA gave hope to us, and now Steven’s story on COTA’s website is giving hope to others.”

Today, Steven remains cancer-free and is leading the active lifestyle of a teenage boy who is in outstanding health. In fact, on the one-year anniversary of his transplant, Steven’s mother wrote this in his COTA online journal, “He has bravely overcome so many obstacles to make it to this incredible day. He has conquered his Mt. Everest and as he loves doing in his video game, he has crushed his cancer. So from the bottom of our hearts we wanted to thank you for the miraculous year that was made possible through your prayers and support.”

Please visit www.COTAforStevenG.com and leave the Gonzalez family
your own message of encouragement, or make a donation to help with ongoing transplant-related expenses.

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Giving Options

Will Your Will Be Known?

Joe and Anna have been faithful supporters of Children's Organ Transplant Association (COTA). They believe it is important to support COTA’s mission of helping give children and young adults a second chance at life.

Joe: Several years ago, Anna and I decided to become part of the Children's Organ Transplant Association’s mission. We believe COTA is truly helping transplant-needy families. We think it is important to partner with COTA to make a difference. For that reason, Anna and I have made gifts over the years to help COTA’s patients.

Anna: We wanted to do more than just make gifts. Joe and I have been careful over the years and have accumulated some resources. We plan to be generous with our family, but we also have the ability to be generous with a charity. After talking it over, we decided to leave a bequest in our will. Our attorney took the simple language available from Children's Organ Transplant Association and included a nice bequest in our will. We are delighted we will be helping others through COTA.

You also may want to make it easy and convenient to have a bequest included in your will. The language below shows how a bequest can very easily be included in your will.

You might find it helpful to select the "print" button on the top of your screen and print this page. Feel free to give this page to your attorney. If he or she has any questions, please have your attorney contact COTA’s President Rick Lofgren, CFRE, at 800.366.2682 or via email at Rick can also be reached via mail at: COTA, Attention Rick Lofgren, 2501 West COTA Drive, Bloomington, Indiana 47403.

Example Bequest Language
(Please feel free to change the numbers or percentages as you desire.)

Bequest of Cash
"I bequeath the sum of $10,000 to the Children's Organ Transplant Association of
Bloomington, Indiana."

Bequest of a Percent of an Estate
"I devise and bequeath 20% of the remainder and residue of property owned at my death, whether real or personal, and wherever located to the Children's Organ Transplant Association, Bloomington, Indiana."

Contingent Bequest
"If my brother John Doe survives me, I devise and bequeath 20% of the remainder and residue of property owned at my death, whether real or personal, and wherever located to John Doe. If John Doe does not survive me, then I devise and bequeath 20% of my residuary estate, whether real or personal property and wherever located to the Children's Organ Transplant Association, Bloomington, Indiana."

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Ways You Can Help

Ten Ways To Give Hope and Make Miracles

COTA’s Top 10 List for Fundraising Success

#10 Community Involvement
Community groups exist to help the community. Capitalize on the mission of community groups you are a part of by getting fellow group members involved in helping a COTA community campaign. Your ‘inside connection’ in a community group is sure to help encourage other members to listen to your ideas about helping a COTA family. The relationships between members of a club, civic group or a faith-based group often result in wholehearted support of another member’s appeal or request. Seek out a member with whom you can share a COTA family story, and then ask them to help you take it to the group … member to member.

#9 COTA Wristband and Recycle for Life Programs
COTA has two programs to help your volunteer team get off to a fast start. These programs are not just good for your COTA Community Campaign, but also are a great way to get other organizations and youth involved in the fundraising effort.

To participate in COTA’s Recycle for Life Program, collect used cell phone and spent inkjet and laser printer cartridges. Contact COTA to get pre-paid UPS shipping labels. Pack the materials and then send them to the recycler. A check will be sent to COTA for the value of the items. It is truly as simple as that.

To order wristbands, contact COTA for an order form. After placing and paying for your order, you will receive wristbands in a few days. You can start selling them immediately upon receipt. COTA makes it easy to turn in the proceeds and to designate them in honor of a COTA family in your community.

# 8 Bake Sales, Lemonade Stands, Car Washes and Rummage Sales
In some cases, simpler is better. Try holding one of these classic community fundraisers, which are all tried and true ways to raise funds with minimal expense and planning time. There are many creative ways to enhance these fundraising proceeds. Ideas include advance car wash ticket sales and a free lemonade stand from a national vendor such as Sunkist (www.sunkist.com).

Just remember: Gather your supplies (including volunteers). Pick and confirm an event
date, time and location. Finally … promote, promote, promote. Three simple steps to fundraising success.

#7 Coin Collections
Pennies, nickels and dimes do add up to fundraising success. Coinstar®, a national coin redemption machine manufacturer, estimates an average eight ounce jar of coins equates to $14.27, and a gallon jug filled with coins can add up to as much as $228.34.

Collect coins from your fellow club members, co-workers, or even your own family
members. You can even make a coin collection a competition between participants. Add some prizes for the most successful collector and you have the beginnings of a great fundraising activity.

Contact COTA to learn where to deposit your coins/cash proceeds.

#6 Restaurant and Retail Partnerships
Businesses, big and small, look for ways to show employees and customers that their company cares about the community. Getting employees involved while representing their employer not only boosts morale, but also has the added bonus of great public relations for the company.

It is not too hard to find a way to benefit a business and a local COTA Community Campaign at the same time. For instance, you can plan a ‘Dine Out for a Cause’ activity. Work with a local restaurant to have an evening where a percentage of each purchase is donated to COTA. In return, you publicize the activity and help draw people into the restaurant. This benefits everyone.

Perhaps you can ask a local store to ‘round up’ each purchase to the next dollar. So a $9.15 purchase would be rung up as $10. The difference is donated to COTA. Again, by promoting the activity, you draw new customers to the retail outlet.

The possibilities are endless … and so is the fundraising potential.

#5 Games of Chance and Auctions
Gaming is an activity that requires payment to play and winning involves chance.
Auctions involve competitive bidding among individuals, but only the highest bidder pays for a purchase.

Both of these activities may be a good way to raise money quickly with limited expenses. However, while games of chance (like raffles) work well, you must allow time to follow your state or local municipality’s directions regarding licensing, vendor selection, authorized suppliers and ticket printing. If you do not have a committed volunteer willing to work on the gaming administration details, then do not plan a gambling activity.

Auctions and gaming activities are most successful when you have the support of the community. In order to maximize auction or gaming activity income, volunteers should solicit community businesses for prizes or auction items. Make sure to recruit adequate volunteers to sell tickets to the auction event or tickets for a drawing.

#4 Golf Outings
Mark Twain described golf as ‘a good walk - spoiled’. COTA thinks that golf is ‘a good fundraiser - period’.

Planning and hosting a golf outing can be exhausting, time consuming and somewhat risky -- in addition outings require a fair number of committed volunteers. However, the results can be outstanding. In fact, golf outings remain one of the nonprofit sector’s most popular special event fundraisers.

Start by determining whether you have a reasonable pool of potential sponsors and participants. Sponsorships and golfer registrations are key ways that golf outings raise funds. But don’t forget to plan auctions, raffles and on-course activities as well. Then research golf courses and clubs in your area to determine the best location for your event. One major determining factor has to be cost. Always make decisions about your golf outing based on the results of the full realm of your research.

#3 Donor Challenges
“I dare you.”

A dare, or the more ‘grown-up’ version, a challenge, can motivate people to compete. Why not engage your network of friends and family members in a friendly competition to raise funds in honor of a COTA child?

Challenge your friends to make a $10 donation and then pass the challenge on to 10 of their friends. Or maybe you can unveil a challenge to raise $1,000 in a short period of time with the promise that a donor will match the amount raised in that timeframe.

Make a plan for a challenge that you feel will motivate donors. Post an entry promoting the challenge or a Challenge Event advertisement on your own social networking page or your organization’s website. Email the link to everyone on your team and ask that they forward the message to everyone in their electronic address books. Spread the word and watch the challenge take off.

Giving online in honor of a COTA family is easy. A Donation page is available at www.cota.org by clicking on Find a COTA Family.

#2 A-Thons
An ‘A-Thon’ event (Walk-a-thon, Bike-a-thon, Dance-a-thon, Bowl-a-thon, etc.) gets large groups of people involved in an activity that is both fun and worthwhile. It usually costs nothing to join the fun as event participants ask their friends, neighbors, and colleagues to contribute pledges that ‘pay’ for their participation.

Step one is to determine what location would be a good fit for an a-thon event. Finding a location for your event (walking track, bowling alley, roller rink or school gym) will likely determine the focus of your event. Make sure your proposed location is inexpensive (or possibly free) to use and is available on the date(s) and times that will work best on your community’s activity calendar. From there you can start planning and recruiting participants.

#1 Viral Fundraising
The Internet allows instantaneous and easy-to-transmit communication. You can harness the power of the Internet to help COTA raise funds for transplant-related expenses of families around the country.

Social scientists tell us that each person has at least 10 people in their close network of friends, family and associates. When a friend gets an email from you, he or she is likely to open, read, and, most importantly, act.

Viral fundraising is easy. Simply provide a message for your campaign volunteers to email to their family, friends and colleagues. Make sure the message includes information about COTA and how the email recipient can get involved by volunteering, attending a COTA campaign event or making a donation. Always include a direct link to COTA’s website or to a COTA patient’s donation page so recipients can get more information quickly and easily.

You may want to take viral fundraising one step further by providing messages for your network of family, friends and club members to use on the social networking sites like Facebook or Twitter.

COTA’s Top 10 Fundraisers List contains ideas for individuals and groups with varying levels of resources. Remember that one group’s best idea may not work in your area or with your volunteer group. Review the entire list and examples and then choose activities that best match your community’s interests and resources, as well as your own personal and business networks.

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COTA News

George Taliaferro (GT) Open Raises $72,000 To Benefit Children

More than 80 golfers hit the links in early June to help the Children's Organ Transplant Association (COTA) raise awareness and funds to benefit children who need a life-saving transplant. The fun-filled day at the Eagle Pointe Golf Resort in Bloomington, Indiana, raised $72,000 for transplant-related expenses for children throughout the country. Proceeds from the 10 George Taliaferro Open for Children golf outings have totaled more than $630,000.

"I am grateful and honored by the outpouring of support of the many fine individuals and organizations who have supported this event for 10 years,” stated COTA Board of Directors Chairman Emeritus George Taliaferro. “My prayer is that some day there will be a donor for every child who needs a life-saving organ or bone marrow transplant. After my family, I am most proud of the work I have done to help children and young adults have a second chance at life!"

According to Taliaferro, many Central and Southern Indiana sponsors helped make this event a tremendous success including: Comprehensive Financial Consultants (Presenting Sponsor), David and Bonne Hilliard (Gold Sponsor), Astellas Pharma US, Inc., Cook Incorporated, and PTE Real Estate & Gold’s Will Foundation (Silver Sponsors), The John W. Anderson Foundation and Operation Kids Foundation (Bronze Sponsors), Dr. Lisa Baker, and many more.

"We are grateful to George for his enthusiasm and work for the past decade on this fun and rewarding project. This event is a winner for COTA due to his warmth, generosity and energy," said COTA President Rick Lofgren. “It is through activities like this golf outing that COTA is able to provide services to more than 1,400 families nationwide.”

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Transplant Scholars Award Available From Astellas

Through the Transplant Scholars Award, Astellas is proud to recognize and support transplant recipients who honor the amazing gift of life they have received by pursuing further education and giving back to the transplant community. The Transplant Scholars Award will help 5 transplant recipients pursue their academic dreams with a $5,000 scholarship for education.

Participants must submit an entry form and a brief essay in English of no more than 500 words, describing how their transplant has inspired their educational plans.

Essays will be judged by a panel based on: (1) the compelling nature of the story; (2) the educational goals of the applicant and how those were affected by transplantation; and (3) the applicant’s intention to positively impact the transplant community. One winner per geographical region (Northeast, Southeast, Mid-America, Great Lakes, and Western) will be selected.

Entries can be submitted electronically or sent by mail, typed. The deadline is July 31, 2009. To learn more about the Transplant Scholars Award program, go to their website or view their brochure.

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COTA Fast Fact

The Children's Organ Transplant Association (COTA) provides:
Extensive Volunteer Support
Telephone orientation sessions; training for local volunteers by a professional staff member; fundraising resources; web-based materials; and ongoing support are provided to COTA’s community fundraising volunteers. Customized guidance and programs are developed to meet the unique needs of each volunteer group. Throughout the entire community fundraising campaign, COTA’s staff is available to provide information and assistance, as well as practical solutions to fundraising challenges.

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