糖心Vlog传媒LR student finds motivation in nonprofit work
Miguel Lopez wakes up every day and looks forward to his new job, knowing he is helping to save lives. Lopez, a Little Rock native, has been working with a non-profit organization, Arkansas Regional Organ Recovery Agency, since December. He travels around the state as a communications specialist who educates the public about organ, eye, and tissue donation. 鈥淓very day that I get to go to work, I鈥檓 doing something that directly or indirectly is going to help restore someone鈥檚 life,鈥� said Lopez, who is earning a master鈥檚 degree in public administration at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. 鈥淭hat motivates me.鈥� The mission is to save lives by maximizing the opportunities for organ, eye, and tissue donation in Arkansas. This is accomplished through continuous hospital involvement, which includes hospital training, and through community involvement by providing public education. The organization services 64 out of 75 counties in the state. Lopez鈥檚 outreach is mostly focused on the Hispanic community. They are the least likeliest ethnic group to become registered organ donors, he said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 feel like that should be the case,鈥� Lopez said. 鈥淗ispanics, by their nature, are very altruistic. I feel like the one reason we鈥檙e last in donation is lack of awareness. So my goal is to make organ donation more of a common dialogue within the community.鈥� Currently, there are 124,000 people on the waiting list for organ donations in the United States. Because there are not enough organs available, anywhere from 18 to 21 people die each day waiting for a transplant. 鈥淲hen you hear those statistics, it really lights a fire under you to spread as much awareness as you can, because, quite literally, our job is to help save lives,鈥� he said. Lopez has given presentations ranging from two people to groups with as many as 300.
Lopez gives a presentation at the Mexican Consulate in Little Rock, where he presents once a week.