Hope Blooms: Organ Donation, the Rose Parade®, and Our Journey to Save Lives

by Bryan Stewart

Overview

What Does It Take To Inspire A Community?
For Bryan Stewart, it began with his exposure to a compelling vision that supported an urgent, life-saving mission: to help many more people benefit from the gift of organ, eye, and tissue donation.
HOPE BLOOMS: Organ Donation, the Rose Parade, and Our Journey to Save Lives—Stewart’s 12-year account of the genesis, evolution, and institution of Donate Life’s float participation in America’s New Year Celebration®—introduces readers to the people, events, and moments of joy, heartbreak, and grace that helped position the cause as life-affirming and contribute to dramatic increases in the public’s willingness to donate.
Through insightful and emotional anecdotes illuminating the challenge and rewards of building a national public health campaign around one of the world’s premier live events, Stewart imparts the value of inspiration, authenticity, ingenuity, and perseverance as guideposts for leading people, organizations, and causes.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781599329482
Publisher:	Advantage Media Group, Inc.
Publication date:	04/07/2018
Pages:	360
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

BRYAN STEWART’S inspiring and innovative work as a leader, executive, and community organizer has touched millions. His enduring initiatives on behalf of Donate Life America, Donate Life California, and various nonprofit and for-profit organizations continue to further a wide range of causes and interests. An avid trivia buff, graphic artist, data aficionado, and aspiring singer, Bryan is the proud father of an emerging writer and lives in Los Angeles.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements xi

Prologue xv

Part 1 Genesis

1 Gary's Letter 3

2 If We Build It … 9

3 … Will They Come? 15

4 Phoenix 23

5 Crossing the Bridge 29

6 Building Blocks 37

7 Who Will Ride 41

8 On The March 47

9 The Donate Life Float 55

10 A Symphony of Life 61

Part 2 Growing Pains

11 Coming Together 71

12 A Growing Family 77

13 Faces of Donation 85

14 Many Families, One Gift 91

15 Simple is Smart 99

16 Building the Brand 105

17 A Life Transformed 113

18 I Can See Clearly Now 119

19 Our Good Nature 127

20 Almost National 133

21 Giving from the Heart 141

22 Wherever You Will Go 147

Part 3 The Great Leap Forward

23 Aiming High 155

24 Life Takes Flight 163

25 Flora Graphs and Family 169

26 Air Drop 175

27 You Get What You Plan For 181

28 In the Stars 189

29 Walk of Fame 197

30 A Father's Anguish … and Hope 205

31 Stars of Life 213

32 Reset 219

33 Above the Rest 225

34 Flood of Floragraphs 233

35 In the Details 241

36 New Life Rises 247

37 Seizing the Day 255

38 Well-Oiled Machine 261

Part 4 Just Imagine

39 One More Day 271

40 100 Years 279

41 Journeys of the Heart 287

42 Catalyst 293

43 Lighting Up the World 301

Epilogue 311

References 313

About Donate Life America 315

About the Author 317

Float Committee Members 319

Participants and Honorees 321

Participating Organizations 339

Editorial Reviews

09/10/2018
Stewart movingly chronicles the story of how the subject of organ and tissue donation became the centerpiece of beautiful floral tributes in Pasadena, Calif.’s famous Rose Parade (“America’s New Year Celebration”). As chair of the Donate Life Rose Parade Float Committee, he is uniquely well-equipped to write this detailed, 12-year account of how the idea of publicizing organ donations at the Rose Parade, first hatched in 2002, became a reality. Themes executed have included 2004’s A Symphony of Life, 2006’s Life Transformed, 2008’s Life Takes Flight, and 2010’s New Life Rises. Floats have introduced recipients to their donors, or to the families of their donors, for the first time, and have united fellow recipients with each other—a pair of riders invited onto the float one year had received heart transplants at the same time and hospital while they were still infants. The Donate Life initiative has also shed light on lesser-known organ donation streams, such as living donation kidney chains, in which would-be donors incompatible with their preferred recipient instead pass the donation onto someone else in need. Stewart’s passion for his cause shines through this inspiring narrative. (BookLife)

Publishers Weekly