Gift of Life Marrow Registry awarded $30,000 grant from Esman Foundation

Top Quote Grant will fund annual Campus Ambassador Program Symposium. End Quote
  • (1888PressRelease) August 23, 2016 - The Gift of Life Marrow Registry received a $30,000 grant from The Saul and Theresa Esman Foundation at the organization's annual Campus Ambassador Program Symposium banquet on August 9, 2016 at the Boca Raton (Fla.) Marriott at Boca Center.

    Esman Foundation Executive Director Murray Levin presented the check to Gift of Life CEO and Founder Jay Feinberg before a crowd of over 100 college students, who will hold donor recruiting drives on behalf of Gift of Life on 88 campuses during the 2016-17 academic year. Levin also announced that the foundation plans to continue funding the symposium indefinitely.

    The Campus Ambassador Program offers an exciting on-campus internship program to college students, which is kicked off during a three-day long symposium held in Boca Raton every August prior to the start of the school year. Students arrive from across the United States to receive training in how to recruit volunteers, run donor recruitment drives and promote the drives through social media.

    After completing their training on August 10, the students headed out to their colleges and universities to start the fall semester. Their first challenge is to host a donor drive for World Marrow Donor Day on September 17, 2016.

    Levin said that when he first learned about Gift of Life he "could not believe that someone would send a courier to hand carry donated transplant tissues across the country to save the life of only one human being." Levin felt a personal connection with one young leukemia victim, and spoke about the day a Gift of Life staff member picked him up and drove him to Ft. Myers, Fla. to meet the child. This personal interest in each bone marrow donor and transplant recipient is what Levin feels sets Gift of Life apart as a unique and impactful organization.

    Gift of Life's CEO and Founder Jay Feinberg expressed thanks to Levin and to the Esmans and their foundation. "The Campus Ambassador Program has had a tremendous impact on our ability to recruit much-needed donors to save the lives of those suffering from leukemia, lymphoma, sickle cell anemia, and other blood disorders," said Feinberg. "This grant ensures that we'll be able to prepare college students for their internships for the next several years."

    About Gift of Life
    Gift of Life Marrow Registry is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization headquartered in Boca Raton, Fla. The organization, established in 1991, is dedicated to saving lives and facilitating bone marrow and blood stem cell transplants for patients with leukemia, lymphoma, and other blood-related diseases. To learn more about Gift of Life Marrow Registry, visit www.giftoflife.org.

    About the Saul and Theresa Esman Foundation
    The Saul and Theresa Esman Foundation was created by Theresa Esman in 2008 after Saul, her husband of 50 years, passed away. The couple made South Florida their home many years earlier when Saul sold his sporting goods business in Pittsburgh. That's when the Esmans began their legacy of charitable giving to fight diseases. The Foundation donates to charitable organizations, funding research in Alzheimer's, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, arthritis and epilepsy, among others.

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