Duane Hicks
The cross-province torch run to promote organ and tissue donations will stop in Fort Frances tomorrow.
Step by Step Campaign founder and CEO George Marcello and a group of torchbearers are scheduled to be at the Safeway parking lot at 10:30 a.m.
The public is encouraged to come out and meet them, then join in as they make their way to the Civic Centre to meet Mayor Roy Avis by 11:30 a.m.
“Visit, join, carry the famous torch which was blessed by Pope John Paul II,” said Marcello.
“Let’s see if we can get Fort Frances as the biggest organ donor town in Ontario,” he added.
Among the torchbearers is Khaled Khatib, a 20-year-old man from Palestine whose 11-year-old brother accidently was shot and killed in 2005 by an Israeli soldier.
Khatib’s family donated their younger son’s organs to help five Israeli children.
“That was an international story,” noted Marcello. “It was an effort to bring peace to that region.
“Since then, [Khatib’s] dad and him have become world spokespersons for organ donation. . . .
“He’s got a powerful message.”
The “Register Now: Ontario Student Torch of Life Relay Tour,” escorted by an OPP cruiser, will leave from the Safeway parking lot and proceed west on Scott Street from Armit Avenue to Mowat Avenue.
It then will turn left and proceed south to Church Street, then turn left again and proceed east to the Civic Centre on Portage Avenue.
The torch run started in Kenora on Friday and will end in Toronto on June 19.
Step By Step’s goal is to register more than one million Ontarians to the newly-created Online Organ and Tissue Registry with Service Ontario and the Bone Marrow Registry with One Match.
The public can register for organ and tissue donations through Service Ontario at www.beadonor.ca
They can register stem cell and bone marrow donations through Canadian Blood Services at www.onematch.ca
Get more information at www.torchoflife.com
