Heart to Heart is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization which was founded by Jayne Stanyon to benefit organ and tissue donation. The Stanyon's lost their two daughters in two separate car accidents; a tragedy that has changed their lives forever. The first accident took their daughter Kirsty in 2003. This was incredibly hard for them, but they survived it nonetheless and found a way to push through. It was during this time that their daughter Hollie shared her wishes with her family to become an organ donor should she ever be faced with that. The untimely phone call that followed, which shared the news of Hollie's accident, was earth shattering to say the least. It was at this time that Jayne and Peter were able to donate Hollie's organs; saving 6 people's lives and enhancing the lives of many more through tissue donation.

The Stanyon's have had the beautiful experience of meeting a few of Hollie's organ recipients, which is an experience that has touched them deeply. Through this experience Jayne decided to start a foundation in her girls' memory that would turn this sadness into hope for other families. Heart to Heart was founded in 2006, to keep the memory of two beautiful hearts alive through the good works of the foundation.

Heart to Heart is located in the City of Canyon Lake. Our organization plans to reach out to many of our neighboring communities in the Inland Valley. We have had the opportunity to meet with many local members of our community who have been touched by organ donorship either by being a recipient, waiting on the donor list or by having lost a loved one and donated. We plan on creating an outreach and educational program that would allow us to reach out and educate as well as provide the support needed on all ends of organ donation.

The pain of losing Kirsty & Hollie will never go away, but their love for life continues through The Heart to Heart Foundation, which was founded in their memory to bring awareness to children and adults of the need for organ and tissue donation. It is through the grief and courage of those families, who donate their loved ones' organs, as well as the hope and despair felt by those on the waiting list for a transplant, that inspires us to educate and bring public awareness to our high schools and community.

Heart to Heart would like to see an educational program come to fruition with the primary goal being awareness. We are currently researching the logistics of this program, but would like to speak publicly on organ donation to our community and schools alike. There are so many misconceptions regarding organ donation, and we believe that these misconceptions are a leading factor in the lack of registered donors. The pink sticker on your driver's license is not enough; the Donate Life Registry needs to have a record on file stating a person's wishes in order for the request to be official. Many people who could have been donors were not given the chance as the wishes of the next of kin were granted rather than the registered wishes of the donor.

We would like to set up an educational program that would include testimonials from many of the local people involved with organ donation, as well as the equipment needed to travel to different organizations and speak about this cause. We plan on having a laptop computer with wireless access to bring to our events that would allow people who were touched by the information, to sign up on the California Donate Life Registry. The program would be a 45 minute power point presentation that would explain what our mission is really about: giving life.

Jayne has become very well known and respected within our community, and people from all over have requested her to speak at their events on organ donation. She is an incredibly inspiring woman who has not only survived a tragedy, but has found the strength to turn it into an amazing cause. She has been asked to speak at a few local events in the near future, which we believe will be very successful and in turn get more people requesting her to speak.

Her story accompanied by the information on donorship, is an eye-opening experience for all. The facts are staggering surrounding organ donorship and most people are unaware of how many people die each day waiting for a life-saving organ. There are approximately 19,000 people in California waiting on the organ donor list; waiting for the difference between life and death. Each day approximately 17 of those people die waiting for an organ. We would like to be that difference.

The information speaks for itself, it is so profound that if we could simply put the information in front of the people- we know this alone would be the difference. That is our plan in its simplest form; to bring the information to the people. We will do this on many levels including hosting benefits locally to spread awareness, speaking at schools and other local venues, and finding other ways that we can support our community by discovering what they need.

Our foundation will serve all aspects of our community. We will be on the level of knowing what they need and being there to support and help in any way we see fit. We will offer our help and support to anyone in need, and do not plan on targeting any specific group of people for our plan. Our goal is outreach by whatever means necessary. We would like to provide the emotional support to those on both ends of the donation process, and have the resources to do so. Having a founder who knows firsthand what this process entails is a great tool we feel will help our community. We also plan on giving away a donation of our own to a local family in need who has been touched or is currently surviving the loss and pain involved with organ donation. Last year, the Stanyon's gave money to several families that were experiencing an aspect of donation as a way to help support them and bring some happiness to their lives.

We are currently planning a benefit that has been planned solely on local support from our community, and have had a tremendous outpour of donations and help. Our event titled "A Taste of Paradise" will feature tastings from many local restaurants, all food being donated, and all proceeds from the $25 ticket price will benefit organ donation. We will also have a silent auction with many great items which have all been donated by local merchants, and a jazz band to entertain our guests. We have put together a committee of approximately 20 local volunteers who have helped shaped this event into a success. This event has one major goal: to spread the word. We have been shocked at how little our local community knows about our cause and have been able to get a great deal of information out just in the process of planning this event. We will have several speakers at our event that will speak briefly about how organ donation has enhanced their lives.

Planning this event showed us how many opportunities we have in educating our community and neighboring communities. If we can continue to find new and innovative ways to spread our information, we may be able to put a substantial mark on the statistics that need our help. Your generous grant would help us get our educational program into motion.