NJ Sharing Network Hosts 30th Anniversary Gala

NEW PROVIDENCE, NJ – NJ Sharing Network, the nonprofit organization responsible for the recovery of organs and tissue for New Jersey residents, celebrated its 30th anniversary with a Gala held on Thursday, November 9 at Liberty Science Center in Jersey City.

With the generous support of Presenting Sponsors Novartis and Mitch and Ali Kogen in memory of Riley Kogen, Platinum Sponsors MTF Biologics and RWJ Barnabas Health, and numerous Gold, Silver, Bronze and Table Sponsors, NJ Sharing Network was able to raise almost $400,000, supporting the Foundation in exceeding its annual $1.8 million fundraising goal.

The evening celebrated the past 30 years of saving lives, the future of innovative transplant research and education and the continued effort to raise awareness on the life-saving benefits of organ and tissue donation and transplantation. In attendance were transplant recipients, living donors, families of organ and tissue donors, NJ Sharing Network volunteers, board members and staff who work to facilitate life-saving organ and tissue transplants every day.

“NJ Sharing Network has grown in so many ways over our 30 year history. The gala was a chance for us to thank everyone who has helped us become the life-saving organization that we are today,” said Joseph Roth, President and CEO, NJ Sharing Network. “However, there is still more work to be done and more lives to save. We look forward to what the future holds.”

Presenting Sponsors Mitch and Ali Kogen spoke in memory of their late daughter, Riley Kogen. Riley gave the gift of life as an organ donor and saved the lives of two women. After losing their daughter at only five years old, Mitch and Ali started Riley’s Dance, a program of the NJ Sharing Network Foundation, in hopes of improving the quality of life for transplant recipients and those waiting to receive transplants. They do so by providing funds to struggling families in need of medical coverage and financial aid.

The event’s venue, Liberty Science Center, is also home to an Interactive Exhibit on Organ and Tissue Donation as well as a “Live From” Surgery Program where high school students observe a living donor kidney transplant or deceased donor heart transplant from partner physicians and hospitals.

Today, there are over 120,000 people waiting for a transplant and 22 die each day, but one donor can save eight lives and one tissue donor can restore health to over 75 others. In New Jersey, one person dies every three days waiting for an organ transplant. NJ Sharing Network saved more lives than ever before by making 613 transplants possible in 2016, a 16 percent increase from 2015. Tissue donation also helped an unprecedented number of patients with a 10 percent increase from 2015.

New Jersey residents can help save lives by registering as an organ and tissue donor, having a conversation with family and friends and joining NJ Sharing Network at its upcoming events. To learn more and register as an organ and tissue donor, visit www.NJSharingNetwork.org.