Ridgetown’s Pierre Monette believes the number of organ donors in Ontario is way too low, and he’s started a contest to encourage people to sign up.
Currently, only 32 per cent of eligible Ontarians are registered donors. As of Dec. 31, there was a list of more than 1,500 people in Ontario waiting to receive a transplant.
Monette, owner and operator of Ridgetown Foodland, hopes his Big Trip Giveaway contest will help bolster numbers.
“I want to see an increase in registration across Ontario,” he said. “I want to see a difference; that’s what I want to see.”
Monette said he’s fortunate in that he hasn’t experienced any tragic moments in his life where a friend or a loved one failed to have a lifesaving organ transplant. His passion for signing people up as donors evolved initially out of where to direct funds from a charity golf tournament.
“I stared researching. I wanted something that could be felt locally. I needed a cause that had lots of room for improvement,” he said.
And he found it.
Organ donor participation could be much higher, he said, and aside from law enforcement personnel trying to promote it, “there’s nothing actually making people go online and register.
“I wanted to do it for that. It took me four years to figure out how to make it work,” he said.
Enter bigtripgiveaway.com. You can enter online to possibly win a trip to Cuba or Las Vegas, or a Caribbean cruise, courtesy of Howard Mutual, Boston Pizza, and Battery Boy and Vellinga’s Travel respectively. On the giveaway website, you’ll be encouraged to also visit beadonor.ca and sign up to become an organ donor.
Monette said getting support from local businesses was a snap, as various businesses were very interested in being part of the charity effort.
Aside from the trips, there are also tickets and an overnight stay for a Detroit Red Wings hockey game courtesy of Maple City Bakery, and a $1,000 gift certificate to Foodland in Ridgetown.
Since 2003, more than 15,500 Ontarians have received a lifesaving organ transplant.
One donor can save as many as eight lives.
Monette said he knows to make an impact it means getting help spreading the word beyond this municipality in the future, and could involve expanding the number of trips up for grabs.
There is no cost to enter the contest.
