Alison Schischka (Organ Donor coordinator) and Julian Fitzgerald (communications officer) from DonateLife ACT recently attended the Stone Fest concert held at the University of Canberra. About 12,000 people attended the event and DonateLife ACT was able to talk with them about organ and tissue donation. DonateLife ACT explained how important it was for them to Discover the facts, make a Decision and Discuss their decision with their family.

Volunteers from the ACT Branch of Transplant Australia also assisted on the day and set up a stall to distribute DonateLife merchandise and speak with people about organ and tissue donation. The volunteers included recipients, donor families and supporters of organ and tissue donation from the ACT region.

Volunteers included, Russell McGowan, Marjory Taylor, John Kelly, Judith Dalla, Rob Benson, Fritz Gruber, Laurie and Marguerite Wiseman and Judith and Ivan Stibohar. Everyone had a great day with the concert attendees and many Medicare registrations forms for organ donation were distributed and conversations held about the need for a family discussion about organ donation. Hundreds of Transplant Australia Games beach balls were also distributed and could be seen being thrown around the enormous crowd.

Interestingly most of the 18-24 year olds who approached the DonateLife ACT stall at the concert said that they had recently watched the television commercial and already had the organ donor discussion with family members. The questions that they asked the volunteers were concerned with the donation process and how they could help in communicating the donation message within their age groups.