Celebrating National Donate Life Month with Joey Gase at the Denver Auto Show

This year, Donor Alliance kicked-off National Donate Life Month in Colorado with NASCAR driver, Joey Gase at the Denver Auto Show. Joey was only 18 when he made the courageous decision to donate his mother’s organs after she suddenly passed away from a brain aneurysm in 2011. He now races in her honor and has since become a passionate advocate for organ, eye and tissue donation.

Denver Auto Show attendees of all ages visited the Donor Alliance booth April 5-9 to ‘show their hearts’ for organ, eye and tissue donation by painting a red heart on Joey’s car. Many people came up to the car with their driver licenses out, ready to paint. Joey took time to sign autographs and take pictures with everyone that stopped by the booth. The result was not only thousands of meaningful conversations where people walked away having learned something new; we were also able to register 16 new donors, 12 of whom had previously said no.

If you weren’t able to make it out to celebrate National Donate Life Month at the Denver Auto Show, there are still plenty of celebrations throughout the month where Coloradans can ‘show their hearts,’ including this week. April 15-21, Coloradans can get discounts from local businesses for showing the hearts on their license or wear blue and green in celebration of National Donate Life Month. Visit our Show Your Heart and Save Week page for a list of participating locations.

In Colorado, there are currently nearly 2,500 people waiting for a lifesaving organ transplant and hundreds more that could benefit from eye and tissue donations. You can help by saying “yes” at the driver license office or Driver Services, or anytime at Donate Life Colorado.