The float will be featured on the 2024 Rose Parade® on New Year’s Day
LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The 2024 OneLegacy Donate Life Rose Parade® float will feature 59 honorees representing 17 states in the U.S. With ages ranging from 16 to 64 years old for riders and walkers, and from 3 years to 78 years old for floragraph honorees, these participants and their families will travel to Pasadena to be part of America’s Donate Life celebration on New Year’s day’s traditional Rose Parade®.
The 2024 Donate Life Float will feature:
- 4 walkers, who are living donors
- 18 riders who are organ and tissue recipients
- 34 floragraphs or floral portraits representing organ, eye and tissue donors who gave the gift of life to others
Four honorees who gave the gift of life to others as living donors will walk alongside the 2024 OneLegacy Donate Life float. The 2024 OneLegacy Donate Life float walkers include for the first time in the history of the OneLegacy Donate Life float a very special group of dancers from the Hopi Tribe, who will perform the traditional Hopi Butterfly Dance and who will walk in front of the float in full Hopi regalia. These dancers will accompany living donors who will walk alongside the float.
The 2024 OneLegacy Donate life float walkers include:
- Celeste Rodriguez, Mayor of the City of San Fernando and living donor to her brother
- Sened Isaac from Los Angeles, CA, a film and TV producer who donated one of her kidneys to her sister, Bana Isaac, who will also be honored on the float as a rider.
- Katie Becerra, a living kidney donor to a family member, who is also a OneLegacy Ambassador
- Jason McCluney, a two-time living donor (kidney and liver) who became an altruistic donor to two people he didn’t know after deciding he wanted to help others gain a second chance at life.
Bios to all four 2024 Donate Life float walkers are available here:
https://donatelifefloat.org/si/participants/2024/walkers.html
Float Riders
The 2024 Donate Life float 18 riders include musical performers like Leslie Pridgen, better known as Freeway, a national hip hop artist and kidney recipient from Philadelphia, and Chloe Temtchine, a recording artist and double lung recipient from Los Angeles.
Additional float riders include:
- Bana Isaac, a 35-year-old kidney recipient from San Jose, Calif. Bana’s sister and living donor will be a walker on the float.
- Cheryl “Renee” Roybal, a 64-year-old heart recipient from Santa Fe, NM
- Dave Gray, a 64-year-old heart recipient from Rensselear, NY
- Diana Ladio, a 36-year-old tissue recipient from Nashville, TN
- Jeff Newell, a heart recipient from Los Angeles, Calif.
- Joceline Perez Hernandez, a 26-year-old bone tissue recipient from Riverside, Calif.
- Joseph Sanchez Munoz, a 19-year-old liver, kidney and heart recipient from Northern California
- Malakai Carey, a 16-year-old liver recipient from Los Angeles, Calif.
- Melissa Nelson a 38-year-old pancreas recipient from Bettendorf, IA
- Missy Rodriguez, a 49-year-old liver recipient from Short Hills, NJ
- Orlan Honyumptewa, a 48-year-old kidney recipient from Upper Moenkopi, AZ
- Raul Sansores, a 52-year-old liver recipient from Los Angeles, Calif.
- Raymond Jones, a 42-year-old kidney recipient from Los Angeles, Calif.
- Rhonda Hill, a 63-year-old kidney and pancreas recipient from Douglas, WY
- Somone Washington, a 37 year old kidney recipient from Los Angeles, Calif.
- Ted Jung, a 62 year old heart recipient from San Francisco, Calif. Ted’s donor, Joe Barrett, will also be honored on the float with a floragraph.
Bios to the 2024 Donate Life float riders are available here:
https://donatelifefloat.org/si/participants/2024/riders.html
Floragraph Honorees
34 deceased donors, whose images are being memorialized with floral portraits or floragraphs on the 2024 OneLegacy Donate Life float, will be placed on the woven baskets that surround the Hopi dancer. These donors gave the ultimate gift of life to save and heal lives through the power of organ, eye and tissue donation. The floral portraits were decorated using organic materials like cinnamon, rice, farina, coffee and watercress seeds.
The 2024 OneLegacy Donate Life float floragraph honorees include:
- Alanya Echols, a 28 year old tissue donor from Los Angeles
- Alexander Granados, a 29 year old organ and tissue donor from Los Angeles
- Alicia MacAleese, a 41 year old cornea donor from Reno, NV
- Anthony Hidalgo, a 20 year old cornea and tissue donor from Lake Elsinore
- Cary Sauve-Brown, a 6 year old organ donor from Lake Elsinore
- Clarke Dani Reese, a 13 year old organ donor from Richmond, VA
- Dakota Sams, a 21 year old tissue and cornea donor from Greenville, TN
- Don Calata, a 35 year old organ, tissue and cornea donor from Puyallup, WA
- Dominic Ogden, a 25 year old organ and tissue donor from Marshalltown, IA
- Enrique Rivas, a 22 year old organ donor from Pacoima
- Frederick Jones, a 27 year old organ and cornea donor from Albuquerque, NM
- Gavin Raceles, a 7 year old organ donor from San Diego
- Jake Sullivan Roman, a 20 year old organ donor from Carson City, NV
- Jayme Sue Louque, a 14 year old organ, tissue and cornea donor from Olathe, KS
- Jihad Pridgen, a 20 year old organ donor from Philadelphia, PA. Jihad’s dad, Freeway, will also be honored on the float as a rider.
- Joe Barratt, a young organ and tissue donor from Concord, Calif. Joe’s heart recipient, Ted Jung, will also be honored on the float as a rider.
- John J. Vargas, a cornea donor from Baldwin Park
- Kali Geselowitz, a 3 year old organ donor from Coto de Caza, Calif.
- Kerry Welsh, and organ, cornea and tissue donor from Glendora
- Lance “Bo” Chavez, an organ and tissue donor from the Inland Empire
- Linda Dean, a cornea and tissue donor from Oklahoma
- Manohar “Mike” Vaswani, a 78 year old tissue donor from Las Vegas, NV
- Marty Palmanteer, a 50 year old organ donor from Omak, Washington
- Matthew Messina, a 25 year old organ donor from Northern California
- Miguel Cortes, a 27 year old organ donor from Riverside
- Nate Hall, a 16 year old tissue donor from Oklahoma
- Neal Patel, a 38 year old organ and tissue donor from Columbia, SC
- Paul Eskildsen, a 59 year old organ, cornea and tissue donor from Coto de Caza, Calif.
- Qyana Porter, a 21 year old organ donor from Victorville, Calif.
- Ronald Sublett, Jr., a 53 year old cornea donor from Woodland, Calif.
- Rosanna Manrique Gomez, a 56 year old tissue donor from Whittier
- Sadi’Jae Najera, a 17 year old organ donor from Bakersfield
- Scott Hultman, a 43 year old organ donor from Camarillo
- Vivian Beutel, a 41 year old organ and tissue donor from Santa Barbara
Bios to all 34 floragraph honorees for the 2024 OneLegacy Donate Life float are available here:
https://donatelifefloat.org/si/participants/2024/floragraphs.html
The OneLegacy Donate Life Rose Parade float is produced by OneLegacy, designed by Charles Meier, built by Fiesta Parade Floats and made possible thanks to more than 27 sponsors, including: American Association of Tissue Banks, Artivion, Bazic Products, Bridge to Life, Center For Donation and Transplant, Dignity Memorial Providers, Donate Life California, Donate Life South Carolina, Donor Alliance, Donor Network West, Gift of Life Donor Program, Global Transplant Solutions, Goal Productions, Iowa Donor Network, JJ’s Legacy, JRF Ortho, LifeCenter Northwest, LifeNet Health, LifeShare Network, Lifesharing, MTF Biologics, Midwest Transplant Network, MTF Biologics, Missy’s Miracle, Nevada Donor Network, New Mexico Donor Services, OneLegacy, RTI Donor Services, Sharing Network Foundation, Specialist Direct, UCLA Health and We Are Sharing Hope SC.
As the world’s most visible campaign to inspire organ, eye and tissue donation, the OneLegacy Donate Life Rose Parade® float inspires viewers to help the over 1 million people in need of organ, eye or tissue transplants each year. Register today to become an organ, eye or tissue donor by visiting registerme.org.
Contacts
Tania Llavaneras
(323) 354-6619
Tllavaneras@onelegacy.org
