Gota de la Vida furthers outreach to Latino community
The seventh annual “La Gota de la Vida” campaign raised awareness of bone marrow donation and City of Hope among Latinos nationwide. Organizers combined health education efforts with fundraising activities in a successful drive to increase the number of Latino donors in the National Marrow Donor Program.
photo: RENE MACURARecording artist Cristian
Castro entertains fans at La Gota de la Vida 2007 festival.
La Gota de la Vida translates as “The Drop of Life” in English. Thousands of people with diseases such as leukemia and lymphoma need bone marrow or hematopoietic cell transplantation to fight their disease, but they must wait for a matching donor. La Gota de la Vida aims to increase the pool of potential donors.
The campaign culminated July 24 with a festival and concert in Los Angeles featuring internationally known recording artist Cristian Castro, as well as Graciela Beltran, Alejandro Lerner, Tatiana, El Mayo de la Sierra, Morrison and Italia Renata. More than 20,000 people attended the benefit concert, which generated more than $190,000 for City of Hope. Procter & Gamble, Pepsi, Unilever, Gamesa, Coca-Cola, Food 4 Less, Albertsons, Ralphs, Superior Warehouse, Ritmo Latino Music stores and Sara Lee co-sponsored the campaign.
Through the years, the campaign has raised more than $1.2 million for City of Hope and registered thousands of potential Latino bone marrow donors. The festival also included the Angels of Hope Awards to honor Latinos who have made significant contributions in their careers and inspirational people who have overcome cancer. This year’s award recipients included California State Senator Gil Cedillo, Univision news anchor Teresa Rodriguez, cancer survivor Gustavo Perez, and Telemundo 52’s general manager Manuel Abud and news anchor Ruben Luengas.
“La Gota de la Vida” is a national public education project that includes many celebrities and features public service announcements, bone marrow drives and community events. As a result, more Latinos have signed up for the registry each year. Adding diverse volunteers to the registry improves the chances of finding matches.
“I am proud to be affiliated with a campaign and an organization that reaches the Latino community on such important health issues and recognizes such accomplished Latinos,” said Salvador Treviño, president of Santa Fe Communications and founder of the La Gota de la Vida/Caminos al Exito campaign. “Latinos are the third largest community to suffer from cancer, and yet we are the least likely to participate in the National Marrow Donor Program. These efforts are critical to the health of our community.”