Susquehanna University’s Paul Dannelley chapter of Public Relations Society of America recently won its third first-place award in the Gift of Life Students Save Lives College Challenge.
The campaign raises awareness about the importance of organ donation.
Fourteen Pennsylvania and New Jersey colleges participated in the challenge, registering 704 organ and tissue donors with the potential to save 5,000 lives, the Gift of Life organization said. Susquehanna’s campaign, Hues of Hope, registered 68 new organ donors this year, the highest number its PRSSA chapter has registered in the six years it has competed in the challenge.
The Hues of Hope campaign. Over the weeklong campaign, which included guest speakers who were organ recipients, Susquehanna students engaged more than 500 students in activities and reached more than 10,000 people on social media. The chapter will receive a $1,000 prize.
Abigail Lentz ’27, a communication arts major and PRSSA member from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, was inspired to participate in the challenge after losing a friend in a drunk-driving accident and her grandfather to cancer. Both were organ donors whose legacies live on with their gifts of life.
“When I think about the Student Save Lives Challenge, I think of them,” Lentz said. “I think about their selflessness and how, even though they cannot be here with us physically, their legacy and love are being shared with others who need it most.”
