COTA Saturday
It all began with Samantha’s smile.
Samantha Conlan needed a liver transplant. Samantha’s Aunt Barbara Petula decided to get involved: to try to make a difference in the life of a child and to keep a child smiling. Today, because of Barbara and a team of volunteers, Samantha is full of smiles and adolescent energy following her transplant.
Barbara says simply: “In my role as the Campaign Coordinator of COTA for Samantha, I experienced first hand COTA’s life-saving mission. However, it became very clear to me that there is more work to be done – and not just in my hometown. I decided that COTA needed a day … a day when all communities could come together to collectively do something to help children like Samantha. And so the idea of COTA Saturday was born.”
COTA Saturday kicked off in September 2006 and has been growing every year since. COTA Saturday is an opportunity individuals and groups across the country to make a difference for children who need a second chance at life.
The effort in your community can be to raise funds or raise awareness. It may be as simple as a bake sale to raise funds for a child needing a life-saving transplant. Or it may be a bone marrow drive planned in partnership with your local blood bank. Perhaps, you will simply collect pennies to help us reach our goal of One Million Miracles. Whatever your community’s effort, big or small, it will make a difference.
Barbara says: “I have always wondered what God had in store for me in this lifetime. My work on behalf of my niece’s COTA campaign, and now my work with the nationwide COTA Saturday initiative, is truly my special purpose. Never in a million years did I think one person could help launch a program that will help so many. “
Join Barbara and COTA to do something to save a child’s life, click here to Register your COTA Saturday activity. You can help make miracles!
Rebecca Bathon
Making Miracles:
“Every day we have with Zach is a miracle. We were told there was no hope for Zach and to start making funeral arrangements. Then on his six-month birthday he received his transplant, our miracle.”
Jesse and Carmelita Baza
