Local Nine-Year Old Organ Donor To Be Honored in Rose Parade Friends & family gather at Wallace A. Smith Elementary to decorate Floragraph
Donate Life Tennessee
Chattanooga --- On December 11, 2012 at 10:00 am EST, Wallace A. Smith Elementary will be the setting for a special event, as friends, family and students gather to put the finishing touches on a floral memorial for Jessie Starnes. Final destination for the floral portrait is the 2013 Donate Life America Float at Rose Bowl Parade on January 1st.
Every year, Donate Life selects honorees like Jessie for its parade float who have made a positive impact on their family, communities and those they helped through organ donation. The theme for this year’s float is “Journeys of the Heart.†Tennessee Donor Services is an official sponsor of the float and is sending Jessie’s parents to Pasadena to be a part of the parade festivities.
Because of Jessie’s inspiring story, she will be honored on the Donate Life float in the 2013 Rose Parade. A “floragraph†portrait of Jessie will grace the float along with donor portraits from around the country. Jessie was only nine years old when she passed away and as an organ donor, she gave the Gift of Life to seven people. Jessie's family has built on her living legacy by sharing her story as active volunteers, inspiring others to register as donors. They also created Jessie's Desk, a nonprofit organization that â€" like Jessie did without her parents' knowledge â€" provides children with school supplies, to ensure no one went without items they needed.
In the spirit of giving, those attending the floragraph decorating event will be bringing donations for Jessie’s Desk.
Active in karate, softball, basketball and Girl Scouts, Jessie Anna Starnes of Chattanooga, Tennessee, also loved to read and play video games. According to her parents, Robert Starnes and Lisa Rousseau, she was the kind of child who knew when someone needed a hug or a smile and would give them freely. She gave away her things to others who needed them and would even befriend those on the playground who were sitting alone.
During Spring Break of her third grade year, Jessie planned many activities with her family and picked out her favorite places to go. On March 18, 2008, shortly after coming home from one of her outings, Jessie collapsed in the living room and began to have a seizure. Jessie had suffered a brain aneurysm.
Being such a giving child, it only made sense for her to be an organ donor, her family said. "Even though we were heartbroken, we wanted to turn our tragedy into someone else's triumph," said her parents. "She would have wanted it this way."
For more information about organ and tissue donation or to register to be a donor, go to www.donatelifetn.org or www.tennesseedonorservices.org.
Every year, Donate Life selects honorees like Jessie for its parade float who have made a positive impact on their family, communities and those they helped through organ donation. The theme for this year’s float is “Journeys of the Heart.†Tennessee Donor Services is an official sponsor of the float and is sending Jessie’s parents to Pasadena to be a part of the parade festivities.
Because of Jessie’s inspiring story, she will be honored on the Donate Life float in the 2013 Rose Parade. A “floragraph†portrait of Jessie will grace the float along with donor portraits from around the country. Jessie was only nine years old when she passed away and as an organ donor, she gave the Gift of Life to seven people. Jessie's family has built on her living legacy by sharing her story as active volunteers, inspiring others to register as donors. They also created Jessie's Desk, a nonprofit organization that â€" like Jessie did without her parents' knowledge â€" provides children with school supplies, to ensure no one went without items they needed.
In the spirit of giving, those attending the floragraph decorating event will be bringing donations for Jessie’s Desk.
Active in karate, softball, basketball and Girl Scouts, Jessie Anna Starnes of Chattanooga, Tennessee, also loved to read and play video games. According to her parents, Robert Starnes and Lisa Rousseau, she was the kind of child who knew when someone needed a hug or a smile and would give them freely. She gave away her things to others who needed them and would even befriend those on the playground who were sitting alone.
During Spring Break of her third grade year, Jessie planned many activities with her family and picked out her favorite places to go. On March 18, 2008, shortly after coming home from one of her outings, Jessie collapsed in the living room and began to have a seizure. Jessie had suffered a brain aneurysm.
Being such a giving child, it only made sense for her to be an organ donor, her family said. "Even though we were heartbroken, we wanted to turn our tragedy into someone else's triumph," said her parents. "She would have wanted it this way."
For more information about organ and tissue donation or to register to be a donor, go to www.donatelifetn.org or www.tennesseedonorservices.org.
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