ASHLEY Grewal, a Grade 12 student at Abbotsford’s Rick Hansen Secondary School, has been awarded a $1,500 “Live Life. Pass It On.” scholarship from BC Transplant for encouraging her fellow students and community to register as organ donors.
Ashley is one of four recipients of BC Transplant’s scholarship program this year. To honour Logan Boulet’s legacy, she launched a school-wide challenge to encourage 400+ students to participate in Green Shirt Day at her school.
According to greenshirtday.ca, “On April 6, 2018, Canadians were heartbroken to hear the news of the Humboldt Broncos bus crash. Of the 29 passengers , sixteen lost their lives and thirteen will all bear physical and emotional scars for life.
“On April 7, 2018, Humboldt Broncos defenceman Logan Boulet succumbed to his injuries. His parents, Bernadine and Toby Boulet offered to donate his organs so that six lives could live on.”
It adds: “As news spread of the organ donation by this young hockey player, it is estimated that almost 150,000 people registered to become organ donors in the days and weeks that followed. To date, this is the largest number of Canadians registering to become organ donors in Canadian History due to one event – one person.
“Green Shirt Day was created to honour, remember, and recognize all the victims and families of that fatal crash and to continue Logan’s legacy by inspiring Canadians to talk to their families and register as organ donors.”
Ashley created a heartfelt video showcasing her efforts to raise awareness for organ donation amongst her peers. She launched a school-wide challenge to encourage students to register as organ donors and over 400 people participated in Green Shirt Day at her school. She also created a second video designed for social media that will be shared on the BC Transplant Instagram page.
For her Green Shirt Day campaign, Ashley put up posters, encouraged classes to learn more about Logan Boulet, created social media posts, in addition to the school-wide challenge. It was a successful project to honour Logan Boulet’s legacy and raise awareness for a new, but important, topic in her community.
