After months of waiting for a donated liver for their five-month-old son Luke, Kim and Nate Harbur realized that something had to change. With over 70,000 patients in the country waiting for a needed organ, the Harburs saw the need to promote organ and tissue donation awareness and co-founded the Gift of Life Foundation. “We were in a position to help those in need,” says Kim Harbur, “we had to get the message out.”

In January 1998, the Gift of Life Foundation was organized to educate the public and promote organ donation. The foundation raises awareness by encouraging individuals to talk with their families about donating their organs before or in case they are faced with the decision, says Harbur.

One unique education outreach program piloted by the foundation, with the help of Los Angeles-based James Redford Institute of Transplant Awareness, brings informational curriculum into eight Kansas City-area school districts. Gift of Life and the Redford Institute combine their curriculum for distribution and encourage the students to speak with their parents about organ donation.

Earlier this year, Gift of Life supported the National Organ and Tissue Donor Awareness week by sponsoring student volunteers as they provided donation information in area high-school cafeterias. They also held a special reception and candlelight ceremony honoring organ and tissue donors and their families.

A year ago the foundation gave the Stowers Institute for Medical Research a Gift of Life Fountain honoring organ and tissue donors. The Harbur family personally donated the bronze sculpture “Joie de Vivre” in honor of their now five-year-old son’s liver donor, Aaron Drake.

The Gift of Life Foundation “has been quite well received,” says Harbur. The foundation continues on with educating the public about organ and tissue donation and looks forward to the future. “We have a lot of dreams ahead,” Harbur adds.