Be a Donor – Save a Life – UPDATE

UPDATE: Donor Drives Scheduled

Friday December 18
California
4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Home of John Page
19 Wedgewood Lane
Ladera Ranch, CA 92694
Contact: John Page, 949-981-1558 or jpage@goldenstatefoods.com

Ohio
6:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m.
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
Crimson and Cream Holiday Party
Warrensville Heights Civic Center
4567 Green Road
Warrensville, Ohio
Contact: Lesley Jones Sessler, 216-780-3862

7:30 p.m. to 11:00 p.m.
Zeta Omega Chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity
Chapter Meeting
Zeta Omega House
15435 Saint Clair Avenue
Cleveland, Ohio 44101
Contact: Randy Sessler 201-805-7354 or RSSessler@aol.com

Saturday December 19
New Jersey
9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Mount Sinai Baptist Church
55-65 South 13th Street
Newark, NJ 07107
Contact: Rev. Marion Phillips, 917-375-6636

10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Bethel AME Church
241 Hilton Avenue
Vauxhall, New Jersey 07088
Contact: Kim MacKay, 973-768-8043 or kabmackay@yahoo.com

Ohio
10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Richmond Town Square (By the Food Court.)
691 Richmond Road
Richmond Heights, Ohio 44143
Contact: Lesley Jones Sessler, 216-780-3862 or LDJones7@aol.com

Maryland
11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Randallstown Community Center
3505 Resource Drive
Randallstown, MD 21204
Contact: Sheila/Nadya Dutchin, 443-472-1446

Sunday December 20
New York
8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Brown Memorial Baptist Church
484 Washington Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11238
Contact: Melissa Hayes, 212-363-0554 or Saadia Hill, 347-276-0503

9:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Grace Baptist Church
52 South Sixth Avenue
Mount Vernon, NY 10550
Contact: Phyllis Cole Hollis or Natalie Jones, 917-301-9019, jonbrkly@aol.com

9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Bethany Baptist Church
460 Marcus Garvey Boulevard
Brooklyn, NY
Contact: Shawn Austin, 917-331-3210

3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Williamsbridge NAACP Early Childhood Development Center
680 East 219th Street
Bronx, NY 10467
Contact: Airam da Silva, 888-638-2870 orAiram@icla.org

New Jersey
10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Fountain Baptist Church
116 Glenside Avenue
Summit, NJ 07901-3346
Contact: Kimberly Banks MacKay, 973-768-8043 orkabmackay@yahoo.com

Ohio
10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Great Lakes Mall
7850 Mentor Avenue
Mentor, Ohio 44060
Contact: Lesley Jones Sessler, 216-780-3862 orLDJones7@aol.com

New Jersey
12:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Jack & Jill (Newton chapter) Bone Marrow Drive
Myrtle Baptist Church
21 Curve Street
Newton, MA 02465
Contact: Jennifer Bancroft DaSilva, 973-568-7093

Maryland
7:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
First Baptist Church of Highland Park
6801 Sheriff Road
Landover, MD 20785
Contact: Natalie Jones, 917-301-9019 jonbrkly@aol.com
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Jennifer Jones Austin has dedicated herself for over 20 years to helping improve the lives of lower income and disadvantaged children and their families. She has been an advocate for children and their families professionally and personally. She has done this through her work life as an attorney in the private and public sectors, a senior official for the City of New York and for the State of New York, and an executive for the United Way of New York City, and in her personal life through board service and civic activities. Jennifer’s efforts have benefited thousands of people across New York State and beyond, improving their chances for better health, education and a safe living environment.

Jennifer has been diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) and the Leukemia specialist has informed her that her chances of surviving the disease are small unless she can undergo a bone marrow transplant within the next few months.

You can help Jennifer by becoming a registered donor with the Be The Match Registry and being tested to determine if you are a compatible match with her.  Jennifer is African American and her greatest chance of finding a match is within her own ethnic group.  Out of the 8 million people that make up the registry, only 550,000 of them are African Americans. So the Be The Match Registry is in great need of donors of African American descent.  If you are not of African American descent you can still register, there is still a chance that you will match Jennifer or you may match someone else and help save their life. Donor drives organized by Jennifer’s supporters are listed on the Save Jennifer website at Save Jennifer.  Additional donor drives are listed at Icla da Silva Foundation, click on events and then marrow drives.  These drives are being conducted by the registry and will also help Jennifer find a donor.

On-line registration is another way for people to get tested.  People may register online by going to online marrow registration. Note that the “promo code” is JJA1068.  They will receive an at-home testing kit without charge, and have the option of making a monetary donation. The kit contains everything you need to retrieve a testing sample at home. It is quick, painless and easy to do.  Once you complete the sample, you will return it to the registry to be tested, in the enclosed stamped envelope.

Today’s medical technology allows testing of potential donors as well as actual transplants with little disruption to the life of the donor(s).  Testing is a simple swab of the inside of the cheek.  The actual donor process can be as simple as giving blood. The most common process, the peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) donation, is a non-surgical out-patient procedure where the donor gives blood from an arm; a machine separates the blood-forming cells and returns the blood to the donor through the other arm.

We also need help in reaching as many people as possible to ask them to register and be tested.  Please forward this information to your friends, colleagues, organizational affiliations, churches and synagogues, etc., and ask them to register and be tested or sponsor a drive in their community. If you are able to organize a drive please contact us for more information.

Jennifer and her family would like to thank the iHipHop community in advance for our help. If you have questions that are not answered by the Save Jennifer website, please call Jamie Bowen at 917-992-5299 or email her at jdmbowen@aol.com and list “Save Jennifer” as the subject.

Thank you for your support.