Uniting Rotary for Organ Donation

Posted by Anil Srivatsa, Rotary Club of Organ Donation
My name is Anil Srivatsa, a NJ resident. I am the Charter President of the world’s first cause-based Rotary club for Organ Donation, the Rotary Club of Organ Donation RID 3232.  This club was inaugurated by RI President Shekhar Mehta on March 11, 2022, a date that marks World Kidney Day.  I was a Youth Exchange Student and have been charter president of a total of 3 still active Rotary clubs - the Rotary club of Plainsboro, NJ, the Rotary Club of Bangalore Social RID 3019, and currently the Rotary Club of Organ Donation.  Also, I am the proposed chair of the proposed Rotary Action Group for Organ Donation.
 
I am writing to request an invite to be a speaker at your clubs.  I am on a mission to unite Rotary and Rotarians to work towards a new health goal where in the near future NO ONE DIES WAITING FOR AN ORGAN.  Could you please help in connecting me to clubs in your district that may be interested to have me speak? Based on this interest I will plan my driving route to accommodate this at mutually convenient dates. I hope this story would interest your readers of the newsletter and a mention could help me reach more Rotary clubs as I drive through 17 nations to arrive at the Transplant Games by April next year.
 
I am driving about 35,000 miles, to the World Transplant Games in Perth, Australia, that begin April 2023. My drive started in Bangalore, India (where I live part-time), to Kashmir and back after addressing 5,000 people. Now I am in New Jersey for the next leg of this mission where I will get flagged off at the Rotary Convention by RIP and I head north to Alaska and then South to Argentina, where I will ship my car to Sydney and then end up in Perth April 10th, 2023. The aim is to speak at as many Rotary clubs as I can along the way to meet as many of you on this mission. 
 
I have been on this mission for the past 8 year since my kidney donation to my brother who is a Neurosurgeon (and a Rotarian). The mission was to reach a million potential donors to share my story along with pertinent information about organ donation. Even if 10% engage, that’s a lot of lives saved. IMAGINE WE ALL COME TOGETHER? IMAGINE THIS ROTARY. We did it for Polio. We can do it again.
 
The basic message was to showcase my life after a donation and to inspire others to fearlessly donate if called for by a family member or a friend and, where allowed, to strangers even. I have reached about 130K people so far with over 600 talks and being on the road for over 600 days across 44 countries in my own car where we (my wife and I) live. I have spoken at over 100 Rotary clubs.
 
I have run several marathons, a triathlon, and ran the 100-meter sprint at age 51 in 13.6 seconds at the 2019 World Transplant Games held in the UK, to showcase mental and physical fitness post-donation. I was a member of Team India along with my recipient brother and am happy to say we both won GOLD in our respective events, creating a Games world record in the process. All this helped my story telling in my lectures, giving the audience more confidence to consider organ donation.
 
Mine is The Journey of a Kidney Donor, who went through emotional upheavals and became a champion for the cause of Organ Donation and is now driving around the world in my own car to tell my story on:
  • How I dealt with all the fears associated with organ donation.
  • How I became a world record holding athlete in the World Transplant Games after donating my kidney.
  • My journey through the legal and procedural issues that plagues Organ Donation around the world.
  • Speaking about concerns that only first-hand interactions with a donor can help address.
  • What it takes to truly become an organ donor by throwing light on what happens after you sign up.
  • I deal with religious and superstitious myths that surround Organ Donation that comes in the way to help save lives.  
I look forward to hearing from you.
 
  
Anil Srivatsa
Managing Trustee
Gift of Life Adventure Foundation (GOLA) Inc.
USA, INDIA
A 501 (c) (3) Tax Exempt Non-Profit Organization - USA
80G Tax Exemption approved in India

Mobile: 
USA: +1 732 4858832
India: +91 9900098498
Fax: +1 732 6266798
Email: giftoflifeadventure@gmail.com
 
BECOME AN ORGAN DONOR AND HELP US ACHIEVE A MILLION DONORS. THE MILLION DONOR PROJECT. Click below to get the app and sign up.