Community Corner

Studio City Resident Will Ride on Float in Kingdom Day Parade

The kidney recipient and local activist gets a front row seat to the parade.

Studio City resident Mamie Jackson will be on the Donate Life parade entry at the Kingdom Day Parade in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday.

Jackson is a kidney recipient and president and CEO of the Studio City-based National Organization for Renal Disease.

The Donate Life float is to inspire organ and tissue donation in the African American and multi-cultural communities of Los Angeles. Donate Life joins the celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King with a special entry for the sixth year in the 27th annual Kingdom Day Parade.

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Themed Get Onboard Donate Life, the double-decker bus, adorned with images of recipients and donors and featuring a quote from Dr. King, pays homage to his dream of a global community caring for one another regardless of race, creed or color. Forty-three riders from throughout the Southland representing the “faces of donation” will be on board: transplant recipients, donor family members, living donors, waiting list candidates, healthcare providers, and advocates will unite in celebrating the gift of life.  

Float riders will also include Gloria Rodriguez (Whittier), double lung recipient and founder of the One Breath Foundation;  Indra Michaca (Moreno Valley), who became a liver recipient at age 17; Jo Merriweather (Culver City), awaiting a double-lung transplant; Jésus Nava (West Covina), who received his heart transplant in 2005 and has met the family of his donor, an African-American young man; and Elaine Kirksey-Jones (Fontana), who saved the life of a baby, a total stranger, by donating part of her liver.

Find out what's happening in Studio Citywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The parade begins on Monday at 10 a.m. from Martin Luther King Blvd. and Western Ave., and it proceeds westbound to Crenshaw Avenue, turns south and concludes at Vernon Avenue in front of Leimert Park.

The Donate Life Kingdom Day Parade float is coordinated by OneLegacy, the non-profit organ and tissue recovery agency dedicated to saving lives throughout the seven-county greater Los Angeles area.


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