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CoSIDA Goodwill & Wellness Committee
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Communicators Outside the Lines Feature Series
This is the next profile in a series entitled
Communicators Outside the Lines: Better Yourself, Better Your Community produced by the CoSIDA Goodwill & Wellness Committee. Read past profiles at
CoSIDA.com/CommunicatorsOTL.
WE NEED YOUR IDEAS!
If you have any ideas for this series, which will revolve around CoSIDA member volunteerism and health and wellness, please contact Goodwill and Wellness Committee chair
Chris Mitchell, Washington University in St. Louis Assistant AD for Communications, at (618) 560-9280 or
mitchell@wustl.edu.
Q&A with Denise Thompson
Big Sky Conference, Assistant Commissioner/Communications and External Affairs
by Joe Browning – UNC Wilmington, Senior Associate AD/Athletic Communications
CoSIDA Goodwill and Wellness Committee member
Denise Thompson is in her second year as Associate Commissioner for Communications and External Affairs with the Big Sky Conference. She is responsible for the marketing efforts of the conference and specifically the basketball championships. Prior to her arrival in Ogden, Utah, Thompson, a former college student-athlete and current CoSIDA at-large board member, spent four years as Assistant AD for Communications at Northern Arizona.
CoSIDA members, by nature, don’t have a lot of extra time, but many do step up to volunteer with national organizations staging special events. Denise was an active SAAC member during her college days and decided to become involved with the Transplant Games of America as just one way to make a difference in the lives of others. Now, ironically, it’s taken on a more personal meaning.
Denise Thompson volunteered at the 2018 Transplant Games of America in Salt Lake City.
Q. What exactly is the Transplant Games of America and where are they held?
Thompson: The games are a multi-sport festival event to help promote the need for Organ, Eye, and Tissue donation. It rotates between America and an international location every year. Games include basketball, ballroom dancing, corn hole, cycling, pickle ball, swimming, track & field, and many more. The games are a way to get the word out about the important need for organ and tissue donation. Over the years it has grown into an event that has brought transplant and donor families together. As a Donor Family, you may not meet the person that has your loved one’s organ, but you get a chance to see how your donation has changed someone else’s life. As a transplant recipient, you get to show the world that having a transplant is a second chance at life.
Q. How did you get involved in the Transplant Games of America?
Thompson: My former boss, Andrea Williams, sent a memo out to the staff about the opportunity to volunteer with the Transplant Games of America and I jumped at the chance. I joined the CoSIDA Goodwill and Wellness Committee because I enjoy giving back, so this was another great event to volunteer.
Q. What types of skills does it take to assist with the Transplant Games?
Thompson: None at all. Just a good spirit. You can volunteer for one day or all of them and everything is in shifts. The positions range from check-in clerk, scorekeeper, official, greeter, and much more. There are so many positions to fill and so many potential areas to work with.
Q. Why is it important for members of CoSIDA to be involved with events like these?
Thompson: As SIDs, we spend so much time doing things because we must, that it sometimes takes the fun out of what we are doing. Being able to volunteer, and especially at events like this that have such a powerful impact on all involved, is truly priceless. I had no idea what I was going to be doing at the event before I started, but I knew that even if I was just standing around and saying ‘welcome’ that I needed to be there. Getting away from the office and volunteering at the Transplant Games gave me a greater purpose.
Q. What’s the most inspirational story you experienced while working with the Transplant Games?
Thompson: Honestly, every story that I heard touched my heart. From the living donors, to the families of deceased and living donors to donor recipients, they were all remarkable. To watch so many people come from not only all 50 states, but across the world as well to participate was very eye-opening. The opening ceremony and the donor quilts were two things that definitely made me take a step back. To see so many participants walk in the stadium and to listen to the stories on the big screen of those telling their donor stories brought tears to my eyes. The donor quilts honor those heroes who, through their gift, offer others a second chance at life. To look at the quilts and see the smiling faces staring back at you of those who were gone too soon, but in return helped someone else to be able to live on, left me at a loss of words, but also a reminder that we all must love this life we live.
Q. What’s your favorite memory while working with the Transplant Games?
Thompson: My favorite memory came on the last day of the Transplant Games. My staff was told that we no longer needed to work on the final day due to overstaffing, but there was no way I was going to cut my commitment short. I ended up volunteering and spending almost four hours with two ladies, Judy (Team Kentucky) and Jo Anne (Team New England), who were living donors. They were competing in the darts tournament and I was the scorekeeper. They ended up getting gold and silver for their age group and I became a dart scoring pro. We were best friends by the time I left.
Q. Do you plan to keep assisting with the Transplant Games? If so, why?
Thompson: The next Transplant Games of America is set for 2020 in my home state of New Jersey at the Meadowlands from July 17-22. I really hope that I can fit it in my schedule to fly back and volunteer even if it’s only for a few days. I would love to reunite with Judy and Jo Anne. Between the time I signed up to volunteer for the Transplant Games and the event taking place, I found out that my dad has kidney failure and needs a transplant. This event hit home for me for a lot of reasons, but to be able to make it to the event in 2020 and bring my dad with me as a donor recipient would mean the world to me.
Q. If interested, how could other members of CoSIDA help with the Transplant Games?
Thompson: Those interested may visit
http://www.transplantgamesofamerica.org/volunteer.html. Once shifts open, TGA will send anyone a direct email who signs up for the general interest volunteer sign up.
Click here to learn more about CoSIDA's Goodwill and Wellness initiatives and find out how YOU can get involved.