South Texas Blood & Tissue honors donors and encourages donation registration
Every April, South Texas Blood & Tissue celebrates National Donate Life Month with dedicated events, social media posts and commemorative activities to honor those who have given the ultimate gift of life and to encourage the community to register to be organ, eye, and tissue donors.
Our Hospital Development team attended flag raisings, donor registration drives, and other celebratory events at hospitals across our service area.
In addition, STB&T invited a donor family to raise the Donate Life America flag at the headquarters building to fly throughout the month. Alex and Michelle Menchaca raised the flag in honor of their son David, who donated organs, tissue and corneas to save and enhance the lives of patients in need after he died at age 24.
From an early age, David Menchaca’s creativity shone through in so much of what he did.
For Blue and Green Spirit Week, STB&T set up a Donate Life altar for blood donors and staff to leave messages of hope on and with information for people to learn more about Donate Life Month. The organization also partnered with Alamo Quarry to light its iconic smokestacks blue and green for the week.
Employees created chalk art with the special help of BioBridge Global graphic designer Roberto Esquivel in front of the Donor Pavilion in San Antonio. The art was based on this year’s Donate Life Month “Make a Splash” theme, with frogs representing healing and renewal and water lilies representing hope.
Tissue donor families and STB&T employees were invited to paint rocks in honor of loved ones to place in the Legacy Garden. STB&T’s Legacy Garden is a memorial filled with painted rocks, wind chimes and other mementos honoring those who have died.
At the end of the month, staff volunteers and donor family members came together to re-plant and refresh the Legacy Garden for the next year. The garden continues to be a place for the grieving to find comfort.
If you or someone you know wants to learn more about donation or register their decision to be an organ, eye or tissue donor after death, visit DonateLifeTexas.org/SouthTexasBlood.
