Ceremony to honor fallen law enforcement officers and their families set for 10/28

Donate Life California, which encourages people to register as organ donors, and the California Peace Officers’ Memorial Foundation will hold a special Donate Life Rose Dedication Ceremony on Tuesday, October 28 at 10 a.m. honoring fallen law enforcement officers and their families. A beautiful rose in honor of the officers will be included in the Dedication Garden on the Donate Life Float in the 2015 Rose Parade, held in Pasadena on New Year’s Day. The officers’ families are invited to personalize the tribute.

Tuesday’s ceremony will be held at the Orange County Sheriff’s Training Academy, located at 15991 Armstrong Avenue, in Tustin, from 10 to 11 am.

The speakers at this event will include Santa Ana Police Cpl. Steve Ahearn (pictured above), who is in dire need of a new kidney.  Click here to read more about Ahearn’s condition and his service to our community.

Other speakers at the event will include:

• Charlene Zettel – CEO, Donate Life California
• Tom Mone – Chairman, Donate Life Rose Parade Float Committee
• Wayne Quint – Executive Director, California Peace Officers’ Memorial Foundation
• Kevin Mickelson – President, California Peace Officers’ Memorial Foundation
• Sheriff Sandra Hutchens – Orange County Sheriff’s Department
• Chief Sergio Diaz – Riverside Police Department
• Corporal Steve Ahearn – Santa Ana Police Department, kidney transplant candidate
• Officer Bobbie Norman – Los Angeles Police Department, kidney transplant recipient from wife andfellow officer Sara Faden
• Officer Sara Faden – Los Angeles Police Department, living kidney donor to husband and fellow officer Bobbie Norman
• Officer Ivan Sablan – San Diego Police Department, living kidney donor to Jeff Monis
• Jeff Monis – San Diego Police Department, kidney transplant recipient from Officer Ivan Sablan

Contact: Brianne Mundy Page, Donate Life California, brianne@donateLIFEcalifornia.org, 619-940-7084/Michelle Mendoza, California Peace Officers’ Memorial Foundation, cpomf@camemorial.org, 916-443-1797

Donate Life California is the nonprofit, state-authorized organ, eye and tissue donor registry. As a public service, theregistry assures all personal information is kept confidential and stored in a secure database, accessible only toauthorized organ and tissue recovery personnel at the time of an actual donation opportunity. The registry isadministered by Donate Life California and California’s four nonprofit, federally designated organ recoveryorganizations: California Transplant Donor Network (CTDN), Lifesharing, OneLegacy and Sierra Donor Services. For more information about Donate Life California; how organ, eye and tissue donation saves and improves lives; and to sign up, please visit www.donateLIFEcalifornia.org or in Spanish at www.doneVIDAcalifornia.org.

Statistics from U.S. Health and Human Services: http://www.organdonor.gov/ about/data.html.