Family Spotlight

Havalah Kolb ...
Three Years Post Transplant and Still Celebrating Her Second Chance at Life

Havalah Kolb was a tiny infant weighing just over five pounds at birth. Doctors watched her closely as she struggled to gain even tiny amounts of weight. When the baby was five weeks old, parents Kristen and Steven were told their precious daughter had biliary atresia, a life-threatening disease that attacks the liver. At four months old, Havalah’s doctors started preparing her parents for a liver transplant. But her condition stabilized, and Havalah was able to live at home for almost two years.

Despite her yellow skin and eyes, and despite being fed by a tube, this toddler was a happy little girl. Family and friends rallied around Havalah’s parents and started working with the Children’s Organ Transplant Association (COTA) to raise funds for
transplant-related expenses. According to mother Kristen, "Just when we were all feeling helpless with this diagnosis, COTA helped us to feel like we were proactively doing something to help, and kept us busy while waiting for 'the call'."

The call came in August 2005 and Havalah received her life-saving liver transplant. Just one day after the transplant she had to be rushed back into surgery to repair a clotted hepatic artery. Then Havalah had several bouts of suspected rejection and another hepatic artery repair surgery. But today, three years after the transplant, Havalah
is thriving.

Havalah is doing everything healthy kids can do. She is taking ballet and swimming lessons, and she is attending school. This beautiful and charming little girl is a gift to her parents – and to the communities of Green Bay and Milwaukee that rallied to help her.

According to Havalah’s parents, Steven and Kristen, "COTA has given us hope that we will be able to provide our daughter with a normal, happy childhood. COTA allows us to deal with the normal financial issues that people with healthy kids have."

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Giving Options

U.S. Charitable Giving Surpassed $300 Billion in 2007

Foundation grant making, which made up 12.5% of total giving, is the fastest growing source of charitable donations. Gifts to foundations have also been growing in recent years, making up 9.1% of total giving in 2007, while individual donations and charitable bequests still make up the bulk of total contributions, at 82.3% of total gifts.

"Giving USA 2008 shows that a strong start to the economy in 2007 helped lift giving despite worries at year’s end from gasoline prices or the housing and mortgage crises," said George C. Ruotolo Jr., CFRE, Chair of Giving Institute: Leading Consultants to Non-Profits, which founded Giving USA Foundation in 1985. "Just as important as the 3.9% overall increase is the finding that every subsector (except private foundations) is projected to have seen increases in 2007. This last occurred in 2001."

The study attributes the 2007 increase to:

• stock market performance in the first half of the year;
• overall growth in the economy measured by gross domestic product; and
• growth in corporate and personal income as reported at the end of the year.

Charitable giving was 2.2% of gross domestic product for 2007.

Giving By Source: Giving from individuals, which continued to account for an overwhelming majority of all contributions (74.8%), increased by 2.7% to reach an estimated $229.03 billion. The next biggest source of contributions was foundations, which granted $38.52 billion, an increase of 10.3% from 2006. Foundation grant making is a greater percentage of total charitable giving than it has ever been, the study shows.

Charitable bequests rose an estimated 6.9% in 2007, after a 7.7% drop in 2006, reports Giving USA. And corporate giving, including corporate foundation giving, increased 1.9% in 2007, making up 5.1% of total giving.

Giving by Subsector: Religion was again the largest single recipient of charitable contributions in 2007, making up just over one third (33.4%) of total giving. The next largest benefactors of charitable giving in 2007 were education (14.1%), human services (9.7%) and foundations (9.1%). Giving to all subsectors rose in 2007, except to foundations. The subsector making the biggest gains in 2007, though, was international affairs, which grew 16.1%, while human services grew 8.4%.

About the Report: Giving USA’s annual estimates are based on econometric studies using tax data, government estimates for economic indicators, and information from other research institutions. Sources of data used in the estimates include the Internal Revenue Service, Bureau of Economic Analysis, Foundation Center, Independent Sector, Council for Aid to Education, National Center for Charitable Statistics at the Urban Institute, and National Council of Churches of Christ. The Giving USA report estimates changes in giving to subsectors (health, arts, education, religion, etc.). Except for giving to religion and giving to foundations, the subsector estimates are based on econometric models.

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Ways You Can Help

Flocking to Raise Funds

A pink flamingo fundraiser involves deploying a flock of pink plastic flamingos in someone's yard or outside a business entrance. A note is left explaining that the person, or business, has been selected by someone to be 'flocked' for a good cause. The note also explains that the flamingo recipient will have to pay $10 to your specific COTA patient’s campaign (or whatever amount you think your community will pay) per flamingo to have the flock relocated.

The fun part is that each flocking 'victim' then gets to pick the next site where the flamingos will land -- with the same contribution/flock relocation message. The flock relocation/contribution process then continues for the duration of the fundraising event. Undoubtedly, you will likely land on the lawn of a 'killjoy' who does not see either the humor or the good cause behind the flock relocation/contribution request. When this happens, simply remove the birds and have the previous recipient select a new 'victim' and get things going all over again.

Birds of a Feather Fundraise Together: For this fundraiser, there is a small upfront investment in purchasing the flamingos, but you can quickly recoup that cost once the flock placement begins. To help with upfront costs, you may want to do a promotion a few weeks before the first flock lands by selling 'Flocking Insurance'. The sale of a few insurance policies can cover your upfront costs, and get the community talking about your upcoming fundraiser. When you purchase your pink flamingos remember to capitalize on this fundraiser by having multiple flocks working at the same time. In addition, at the conclusion of your fundraiser try to store your flock of flamingos so you can pull them out once a year (or offer them to other fundraising groups in your community) and make this an annual appearance of the pink birds throughout your community. People will end up dreading, and loving, this annual fundraiser.

To get going, simply place a copy of how the flamingo fundraiser works including information about your COTA patient’s campaign and your team’s contact information in a large plastic Ziploc bag attached to each flamingo’s foot. By doing so, your COTA patient’s information and donation information will stay protected from the elements.

Note: A quick Internet search will help you find a variety of sources to order inexpensive plastic pink flamingos. Prices start at about $5.00 per bird.

Promoting Pink Plastic: Newspapers, radio and television stations typically look for humorous stories, particularly clever ones that support a good cause. Don’t forget to put together a press release that highlights how the proceeds will be used for your COTA patient and includes a digital photo of your entire flock of fundraising flamingos at a prominent community location. Be sure to include full contact information and the usual who, what, when, where, why, and how in your press release. Distribute it to all the media contacts in your market and then make follow-up calls to encourage
good exposure.

Funds Flying In: Maximize the success of your pink flamingo fundraiser by dividing your flock into various size groupings. Reserve a couple of big flocks for business locations and then divide the rest into groups ranging from two to six birds. A homeowner can easily ante up $20 or $30 to relocate two or three birds. At this contribution level, the next 'victim' likely will not resent being the recipient, and will likely keep the flamingo fundraiser moving on. Good business targets are lawyers, doctors, dentists, realtors and other
high-traffic professionals.

Just remember ... a flock of 60 pink flamingos earning $10 a day for three weeks will
raise $12,600.

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COTA News

COTA Saturday Initiative “One Million Miracles” Creating a Nationwide Network of Partners

The Children’s Organ Transplant Association (COTA) is proud to announce that COTA Saturday 2008, scheduled for the third Saturday in September, is attracting a nationwide network of partners who are each collecting one million pennies toward a goal of providing One Million Miracles.

Launched in 2006, COTA Saturday is the vision of a New York volunteer and COTA patient family member Barbara Petula. "As a child, I always felt God had special plans for me. I had to have a purpose, and I looked for that fulfillment most of my adult life. Never in a 'million' years did I think it would be to help my own family," said Barbara Petula, COTA Saturday National Chairperson. "When my niece Samantha became ill, and we later learned that she needed a liver transplant, the need to do something to help became my personal challenge. When I first learned of COTA, I knew my journey had just begun."

COTA Saturday is designed to give local groups and individuals nationwide a platform to raise awareness for the need for organ and tissue donors, and to raise funds to assist families with their transplant-related expenses. "COTA owes a huge debt of gratitude to Barbara Petula who, as she was helping her niece, decided that she wanted to do something for all children awaiting transplant. Thus, COTA Saturday was born," said COTA President Rick Lofgren.

According to Barbara Petula, COTA’s One Million Miracles means:

One person can make a difference.

Millions of pennies help save kids’ lives.

Miracles are possible.

Last September, Briton Segler, Service Chair for Trinity University’s Health Care Administration Department (San Antonio, Texas) discovered COTA Saturday after doing a website search. She immediately decided to organize a dodge ball tournament to raise funds and awareness for COTA. On Saturday, September 27th, Briton’s idea really paid off; her tournament raised $500 to help COTA get closer to its goal of making One
Million Miracles.

According to Segler, "I chose to help COTA because it is an organization that shares my passion for health care and for helping young people who face life-threatening medical conditions." Even though Segler is not her organization’s Service Chair this year, she is hopeful the group will do another COTA Saturday event this September.

Individuals are also deciding to help COTA give hope and make miracles. A 40-year employee of American Appraisal Associates (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) recently decided to forego the gold watch or wooden rocking chair the company includes on its gift list to recognize its employees’ years of service. Instead, Ed Raether asked his fellow employees to host a COTA fundraising event to help with his granddaughter’s transplant-related expenses. Raether’s granddaughter was born 10 weeks premature and needs a life-saving kidney transplant; her family began working with COTA several months ago.

The result? American Appraisal Associates hosted a hot dog sale and in one afternoon, Raether’s co-workers commemorated his years of service with more than $6,000 raised for transplant-related expenses. However, in addition to what the employees raised, the company’s executive staff pledged $5 for every $1 raised for their personal support of COTA. In total, this effort raised $36,375 to give hope and make a miracle for Ed
Raether’s granddaughter.

Currently, COTA is identifying national, regional and local groups, as well as individuals, to participate in COTA Saturday’s 2008 One Million Miracles program. Anyone who wants to learn more about One Million Miracles can go to www.millionmiracles.org. Information and templates for organizing a local COTA Saturday event, or for collecting and donating pennies, can be found on the website.

"Our goal is to assure that no child is denied a life-saving transplant due to a lack of funds," said Rick Lofgren, COTA President. "COTA Saturday is a wonderful way to celebrate the hallmarks of this organization -- all money raised through a local COTA fundraising campaign is used for transplant-related expenses and there is no charge for any of our services. To me, One Million Miracles means one day at a time ... one penny at a time ... one child at a time ... one miracle at a time."

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COTA Fast Fact

The Children’s Organ Transplant Association (COTA) provides:
Funds That Are Not Taxable and Will Not Jeopardize Assistance Programs
Because the Children’s Organ Transplant Association (COTA) is the recipient and trustee of the funds raised on behalf of patients, these funds are not considered income for the family. The family does not pay taxes on the funds, and these funds do not jeopardize any assistance the patient has, or may qualify for in the future. Regardless of insurance coverage, transplant patients work with COTA to ensure that a transplant does not financially devastate their families.

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