The Green Chair’s meaning is two-fold. When it is empty, the Green Chair represents overwhelming sadness from the loss of someone who died waiting for a transplant. But when someone is sitting in the Green Chair, it showcases a transplant recipient’s second chance at life. The tagline of the Green Chair Campaign is “Don’t let another chair go empty” because encouraging more people to register as organ donors means there will be fewer empty chairs.
The Donate Life Sit-in will make that tagline a reality, and the timing of the event could not be more crucial. There are nearly 110,000 people on the national transplant waiting list, including over 3,000 Ohioans. The organ shortage continues to grow at a staggering rate, as another person is added to the waiting list every 10 minutes. Sadly, 20 people die every day waiting for an organ transplant. The good news: One person has the power to save up to eight lives through organ donation and heal 125 more through tissue donation.