Volunteer Party: A small token of appreciation
Posted on 26. Jul, 2011 in Past Events, Photos, Team Transplant, Volunteering
On July 19th, we invited Team Transplant volunteers to a special get together at Rack and Rye Gastropub to thank them for dedicating their time to make the 2011 event such a success. The value of their 150 volunteer hours was worth more than $3,200 to the Foundation! Special thanks to Paul Piciocchi and Rack and Rye for hosting us at their wonderful restaurant.
Katie Cicerchi returns to ATF to plan Team Transplant 2011
Posted on 23. Feb, 2011 in Announcements, Team Transplant, Volunteering
Katie near Leogane, Haiti
We are excited to announce that Katie Cicerchi, our former outreach and external affairs coordinator, has returned from Leogane, Haiti where she volunteered as an earthquake relief worker for two months last fall. She arrives just in time to help plan Team Transplant 2011, the Foundation’s charity cycling team riding in the Subaru Elephant Rock on Sunday, June 5th. Katie will work with the American Transplant Foundation until August 15th.
Heidi Heltzel resigns from American Transplant Foundation
Posted on 24. Nov, 2010 in Announcements, Volunteering, Website Archive
Dear Friends and Supporters,
It is with much forethought and sadness that I am submitting my resignation as Executive Director of the Foundation.
It was six years ago that Steve Farber, Larry Chan and I first sat down and discussed the concept that would become the American Transplant Foundation. For the past five years it has been my privilege to be both a co-founder and the Executive Director of the Foundation. I am proud to have led it from concept to the organization that it is today, one that is well respected throughout the transplant community, and by the general public, as a resource and promoter of the cause.
The Foundation has become recognized as a valuable resource for information by major pharmaceutical companies, organ procurement organizations, and transplant centers throughout the U.S., not to mention by transplant patients, their families and their friends. It has successfully spread its message through vehicles such as headlining concerts and its cycling event called Team Transplant. It has also made headway in increasing the number of registered donors by developing new mainstream ways people can register to be an organ donor, such as through the State of Colorado website and on the State’s income tax form.
My last official day with the Foundation will be November 30, 2010. I will be assisting in the transition to ensure that operations continue smoothly. Until a new executive director is found, Amy Venturi will be taking care of Foundation business.
The Foundation’s success is in large part due to all of you, our volunteers and supporters, and your continued support is equally as important.
Warm Regards,
Heidi A. Heltzel, Co-Founder and Executive Director
Feel Good Friday: Organ donor gets surprise recognition
Posted on 19. Nov, 2010 in Connections: A Blog about Life!, In The News, Volunteering
November 19, 2010 – Ken Clark, KDVR Denver
Steve Crider, a living kidney donor and American Transplant Foundation volunteer, recognizes the woman who saved his daughter Kelsey’s life through this story on Fox 31 KDVR Denver.
2010 Volunteer Appreciation Party
Posted on 24. Sep, 2010 in Volunteering
Special thanks to everyone who joined us at the 2010 Volunteer Appreciation Party on September 23rd! Volunteers enjoyed food and drinks at Pizza Republica in Greenwood Village, Colorado as a small token of appreciation for their help during this year’s volunteer events.
Announcement: Katie Cicerchi leaving ATF to pursue new adventure
Posted on 02. Aug, 2010 in Announcements, Volunteering, Website Archive
Dear Friends,
It is with mixed emotions that I must inform everyone of Katie Cicerchi’s decision to leave the American Transplant Foundation. Katie started as an intern more than two and a half years ago, and during that time advanced to the position of Outreach and External Affairs Coordinator.
Katie Cicerchi at Team Transplant 2010
Katie brought new energy to the Foundation with her savvy knowledge of social media, professional writing and communications skills, and devotion to developing our volunteer program. Her dedication and contribution to not just the Foundation, but to the cause itself, has been noteworthy. It has been a pleasure working with her.
However, looking past the Foundation’s loss, it is also with great pride that I see her leave to pursue a passion true to her heart. Katie has joined Hands On Disaster Response to become a relief worker in Haiti, thus the reason for my mixed emotions. While she will be missed here, I can only be proud of her decision to help others who are in such great need.
Katie’s last day of full-time employment at the Foundation will be August 6th and she will continue to work part-time until mid-September before leaving on her new journey. Please join me in thanking Katie for her hard work and service to the American Transplant Foundation, and in wishing her a safe and a wonderful experience in Haiti.
Kind Regards,
Heidi A. Heltzel
Co-Founder and Executive Director
Kidney donor and recipient to cycle with ‘Team Transplant’ to promote living organ donation
Posted on 20. May, 2010 in In The News, Team Transplant, Volunteering
May 19, 2010 – Alice Hughes, YourHub.com
“…’I encourage everyone to investigate and consider donation,’ says Chris [de Paola]. ‘We have the capability to save the lives of people who have families, children, and friends. People who may have stories like mine, stories that end with multiple lives being saved and others changed for the better.’
To celebrate their health, Chris will fly to Colorado to cycle 34 miles with Michelle at the Subaru Elephant Rock Ride on Sunday, June 6th in Castle Rock. They are riding with Team Transplant, a charity team formed by the Denver-based American Transplant Foundation to raise awareness about organ and tissue donation. Many other transplant recipients and living organ donors are riding to prove that it’s possible to lead a healthy, active lifestyle after a transplant…”
Meet Susan Fakharzadeh
Posted on 01. May, 2010 in Volunteering
May 2010– Susan has been a huge help to the Foundation since she started volunteering in the fall of 2009. If you haven’t had the pleasure of meeting her yet, look for her at the Elephant Rock Ride on June 6th, where she and her husband Brian will be riding with Team Transplant!
How did you become involved with the American Transplant Foundation?
I became involved with the American Transplant Foundation through Team Transplant’s ride at Elephant Rock in 2009. A friend invited me to join the ride, and I really did it thinking it would be a good motivator for me and my husband to get active that spring.
We have been touched by transplant several times, knowing multiple friends and family members who have received life-saving transplants. Becoming an organ donor was something I did when I received my first driver’s license, and learning more about living donation and the power to save and change lives is something that is very, very inspiring to me.
What has been your favorite volunteer event, project, or opportunity and why?
I love Team Transplant because you meet so many great people and get to share the word. Every time we’ve worn our Team Transplant jerseys we get questions from fellow riders about the Foundation, and it feels really great to share the message and (hopefully) get more people involved.
My favorite project, admittedly, is writing the Team Transplant blog. It’s really enjoyable to write and talk about what the various team members are doing to help train, recruit, and raise funds for the big day.
What are you looking forward in the next year?
I’m looking forward to summer! It feels like it’s been such a long winter!
I’m also looking forward to new and interesting ways to be involved with the Foundation. While Team Transplant will forever be very dear to my heart, I know that the opportunities to work with this great team of people will continue beyond June 6th!
Do you have any special talents or interests that people don’t know about?
Many people don’t know that I was a mutton-buster at the Idaho State Fair in 1982! It was a year to remember!
LOL… other than that, I love to cook and entertain friends. To me, there’s nothing more enjoyable than spending a long, balmy summer evening in our yard with a great meal, some nice wine, and conversation that takes you long past when the crickets stop singing.
What is your favorite place to vacation and why?
My husband and I are passionate travelers, and we love to rotate between beach-y vacations and more tourist/city vacations. I still think traveling through rural Italy is one of my all-time favorites—we honeymooned in Rome and Tuscany—but I have to say that the solitude and inky blackness of the night sky over the south pacific in Tahiti is pretty hard to pass up!
Do you have any other thoughts that you would like to share?
Brian and I love to dedicate our ride to the loved ones we know that have benefited from the power of transplant and those that have passed the gift on. We happily dedicate this ride to my Uncle George, heart transplant recipient, my buddy Kelly (happy birthday pal!), a two-time heart recipient, and my father, Frank Sanda, who gave the gift of sight to two people when he lost his brief battle with pulmonary fibrosis in 2008.
We rarely have the opportunity to offer up such life-saving gifts, and I’m proud to know the people who have given this gift so freely and generously.
2009 Volunteer Accomplishments
Posted on 08. Jan, 2010 in Volunteering
Thanks to your hard work, the American Transplant Foundation has accomplished so much this year! Take a look below to read statistics about the volunteer program and to review all the projects you have helped to accomplish.
Compared to last year, volunteers more than doubled their time, equivalent to donating over $16,000 to the Foundation!
Volunteer Program Stats: (1/1/09 through 12/31/09) (more…)
Meet Bente Funch Drost
Posted on 10. Dec, 2009 in Volunteering
Bente Funch Drost is a new intern at ATF and she will be working with us through March on all the upcoming projects. Bente (pronounced Benda) is from Denmark but moved to Denver recently. She graduated from Copenhagen University in 2008 where she majored in business management. She wanted to volunteer for a good cause and since her father-in-law is waiting to get ‘on the list’ for a new heart, she thought the Foundation would be the perfect place for her to be.
