When the Donate Life Rose Parade Float traveled down Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena on Wednesday, it carried the memory of thousands of people who have somehow been impacted by organ donation.

Volunteers with Donate Life cover the float’s lantern with flowers on Sunday at the Rosemont Pavilion in Pasadena. (photo by Aaron Blevins)

In all, 7,700 individuals — represented by roses on the float themed “Light Up the World” — were honored on the float’s Dedication Garden. Some were donors, while others were loved ones commemorated by sponsors. Approximately 1,000 were dedicated to the people who died in 2013 while awaiting an organ donation.

“The actual number of people who died in this country waiting last year was over six thousand. We lose eighteen people a day,” said Rivian Bell, president of JDI Communications, which handled public relations for OneLegacy, a Donate Life organization.

While that unfortunate figure is among the reasons that Donate Life looks to raise awareness about the need for donors during the Rose Parade, the creation of the float is about much more than spreading a solemn message and persuading people to register for organ and tissue donation.

For people like Beverly Hills psychologist Dr. Mason Sommers, a Donate Life ambassador, it’s a way to give back for his new, healthy heart. More than three years ago, he received a new heart from a 23-year-old individual who died in an unfortunate accident. Sommers, a cardiac patient since the age of 16, calls it his “rock star heart.”

“It’s only because of somebody else’s generosity — and the awareness that they had and the foresight [they had] to put a pink dot on their driver’s license — that I am here today,” he said. “So I think it’s an amazing organization, and we do everything we can as Donate Life ambassadors, to raise awareness about the need for organ and tissue registration.”

Sommers invited West Hollywood Mayor Abbe Land, Beverly Hills Mayor John Mirisch and Duarte Mayor Liz Reilly to place roses on the float on Sunday, when volunteers scrambled to prepare it for Wednesday’s parade.

“I’m just placing a rose to recognize the important work that this organization does and how, really, we should all think about being donors,” Land said.

Like Land, Mirisch did not dedicate the rose to any one particular person, but rather to the city he was representing.

“It’s a great honor. Donate Life is a great organization,” he said. “Everyone in California should be an organ donor.”

Reilly said her husband passed away “a number of years ago,” and he was a donor. She said medical workers harvested his heart and a kidney, and now two people in the world are “sort of keeping him alive.”

“I think this is a very worthwhile cause … and very meaningful for me personally,” Reilly said, encouraging people to get the pink dot on their driver’s licenses.

Erika Ospina Awad, a community program supervisor for OneLegacy, said it’s extremely important that everybody sign up to be a donor because less than one percent of eligible people can become donors. She said individuals’ blood pressure must be stabilized, and they must be hooked up to a ventilator, among other things.

“The bottom line is becoming a tissue and organ donor is a rare opportunity,” Awad said. “There are all these factors that come in, so the opportunity is very low.”

She said approximately 21,000 people in California are on a waiting list for an organ transplant.

“At the end of the day, what you’re signing up for is to save lives,” Awad said. “If the last thing you will do on this world is to help someone else, that’s a good way to go if you ask me.”

She referenced the organization’s donor families, who attended Sunday’s event in honor of parents, children, siblings or other relatives.

“It’s really special. It’s kind of bittersweet for some. It’s a moment to be thankful and have gratitude for others. It’s pretty neat,” Awad said.

Kathleen and Craig Hostert, of Fullerton, are certainly grateful for Craig’s two transplants. Craig rode on the Donate Life float on New Year’s Day, while Kathleen and their son walked beside it.

Craig received a kidney from Kathleen approximately 15 years ago, but the organ suddenly quit working in December 2012. That’s when their son offered to save his father’s life.

While they are grateful for the recent development, the family began giving back several years ago, when they created a run/walk for organ procurement organizations. Bell said the event, held at California State University, Fullerton, every April, is now Donate Life’s largest run/walk.

She said it seemed as if every time Donate Life receives some publicity, a life is saved. Bell spoke of a Newport Beach woman who saw the organization’s float in a previous Rose Parade and ended up donating a kidney anonymously.

“The float is a national platform,” Craig Hostert said. “Whether we get a minute and a half on TV or thirty seconds, people are watching that all over the country and all over the world, and they get the message.”

Volunteers have certainly put in the work. Bell said approximately 1,500 people have been working on the float since the beginning of December, and they came from as far as Colorado and Arkansas. The organization has had a float in the Rose Parade since 2004.

“This is such a feel good program for everybody. You have no idea,” Bell said.

For information, visit www.donatelifecalifornia.org.