Giving Out Hope at Good Neighbor Awards Gala
The Good Neighbor Awards, which is now in its 25th year recognizes REALTORS® who have made an impact on their communities through volunteer work. This year’s dinner, held at the Westin San Francisco hotel, had a record turnout of 180 attendees, including the highest number of past and present Good Neighbors who came to support the newest inductees to the Good Neighbor Society.
Joel Pratt learned how to turn tragedy into a miracle, telling of the death of his beloved wife and how it fueled his desire to help others through MatchingDonors.com, a site that matches living donors with patients who need an organ transplant.
“Losing a life taught me how to save a life,” said Pratt, whose wife died in 1998 after a three-year battle with breast cancer. “I feel undeserving of this award because the real heroes are those organ donors who joined MatchingDonors.com.”
Pratt asked everyone in the audience to spread the word about MatchingDonors.com, saying every referral could potentially save a life – perhaps one of the 19 people that die every day waiting for a transplant.
“I’m looking to you, my fellow REALTORS®, to help me save more lives by telling everyone you know about MatchingDonors.com,” he said. Pratt plans to use his $10,000 grant to pay for 18 lifetime memberships to Matching Donors.com for patients and organ donors looking to help.
Joel Pratt, has raised more than $1 million for MatchingDonors.com, a nonprofit website that connects patients who need organs with living donors. With MatchingDonors.com, patients’ wait time has been cut from 7-10 years for a deceased donor organ to an average of six months for a living donor. As the director of business development, Pratt raises money by seeking out donations such as cars, boats, real estate and corporate surplus and sells them for cash. To date, more than 500 people have had successful transplants.
